Literacy Now

This post originally appeared on the Engage/Teacher to Teacher blog in February 2012.

Laurie Calkhoven has always loved reading and writing (just don’t ask her about arithmetic). She’s especially interested in the small moments of American history that usually get left out of the history books. Learn more about her at www.lauriecalkhoven.com.

I GREW UP TO BE PRESIDENT follows future presidents from boyhood through their time as U.S. Presidents. What important facts/lessons can be learned from studying these men’s childhoods specifically?

I think it’s important for children to know that the presidents are just like us. John Quincy Adams was nearly shipwrecked—twice!—while traveling to Europe with his diplomat father. Ulysses S. Grant hated school and loved horses. Harry S. Truman was teased because his thick glasses kept him from playing sports, so he read every book in the public library instead. And Lyndon Baines Johnson was so poor as a child that his family didn’t have electricity or indoor plumbing.

The presidents loved their pets, played sports, and ate ice cream. Some of them were terrible students, and more than one was a prankster. They were ordinary kids who grew up to do extraordinary things. In other words, the presidents are not so different than you and me. Any American can grow up to be president!

In your Boys of Wartime series, you have created characters who are young men during famous wars and battles. Have you presented these books at schools, and, if so, have you gotten any interesting feedback from children whose older siblings might be fighting in America’s current wars?

My Boys of Wartime novels are about ordinary kids who get caught up in extraordinary events, and that’s a big focus in my school presentations. I’m always surprised that children don’t ask questions or make connections to America’s current wars, but so far they haven’t.

In presentations about DANIEL AT THE SIEGE OF BOSTON, 1776 and WILL AT THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG, 1863, I like to talk about the small, funny moments that played a role in the war or the battle—how a broken egg helped keep the American Revolution on track, for instance, or the insulting song a Gettysburg girl sang to the Confederate soldiers camped out under her window. Students have really enjoyed those stories.

MICHAEL AT THE INVASION OF FRANCE, 1943 is just about to be published, and I have wondered if—because it’s more recent than the other wars in my novels—it might spark more questions about contemporary events.

Having written a biography of George Washington (GEORGE WASHINGTON: AN AMERICAN LIFE), do you have suggestions for little-known or interesting aspects of his life that might help teachers to connect their students to the first president?

We tend to look at George Washington as this giant, heroic figure, and forget that he was, in many ways, an ordinary man.

Washington had an “interesting” relationship with his mother. She was something of a scold, and more than one of his friends was afraid of her. He wanted to join the British navy when he was a teenager, but she wouldn’t let him. Mrs. Washington didn’t think her son paid nearly enough attention to her and would have been happier if he had stopped his soldiering and politicking to stay home and take care of her.

He also struggled with poverty after his father’s death. Washington became a surveyor because he couldn’t afford to go to college. He liked to dance, but he missed more than one party as a young man because he couldn’t afford extra feed for his horse. He was also shy and quiet, which made him unlucky with girls! He even had to borrow money from a friend to travel to New York City for his inauguration.

I think stories like those that humanize Washington and make him more interesting to today’s readers. He was a heroic individual, but he struggled just like the rest of us.

What periods and/or events in history would you like to write about in the future?

There are so many time periods and events that interest me that it’s hard to choose! Two of my favorite places to bring visitors to in New York City are Ellis Island the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, so I suppose that one of these days I’m going to have to write a novel set in the immigrant world of the Lower East Side. My original plan was to include a World War One story in the Boys of Wartime series, but World War Two proved to be more compelling. So that’s still a possibility.

When I write a historical novel, I usually spend a good long time researching (six to eight months) before I even begin writing (which can take another year or more), so I have to find a story that I love, and one that makes sense given that my characters are 12-year-old boys.

Do you have any favorite research techniques that teachers can adapt to their classrooms, and help their students be more successful in researching historical figures/events?

My process has been a little different for each book. I got the idea for DANIEL when I was writing my biography of George Washington, so then it was a matter of finding out everything I could about what led up to the Siege of Boston and what day-to-day life was like during that year. I usually begin with big, general histories and then dig deeper. I comb through the bibliographies of the books I’m reading looking for more. I browse the library stacks, reading the titles nearby the ones I’m using. And I always try to find primary sources—first-hand accounts from the people who actually lived through the event.

For the next two books in the series, WILL AT THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG, 1863 and MICHAEL AT THE INVASION OF FRANCE, 1943, I started reading very broadly about the time period, looking for an aspect of the war that intrigued me. The Battle of Gettysburg captured my attention because it was such a pivotal battle in the war. Control of Gettysburg changed hands four times very quickly. For a time, one home was the battle’s front line. Confederate soldiers were on the back porch and Union soldiers were on the front. They shot at each other through the windows while the family crouched in the basement. The history books are mostly about the soldiers and the generals, but I wanted to know about the townspeople.

Once I settled on that battle as the basis of my novel, I turned to primary sources. Many of the townspeople recorded their stories. I also visited Gettysburg more than once. A lot of the Civil War buildings are still standing. I was able to walk the streets, poke my fingers into bullet holes, and stand under the shade of trees that witnessed the battle. That was invaluable.

I knew that my World War II novel would be about a boy in the French Resistance. Again, I started with very broad research. As soon as I read about the spy networks that helped Allied airmen make their way across France, into Spain, and safely into the hands of the British, I knew that’s what my story would be about. There are some great recent nonfiction books about the escape lines, and many of the airmen and Resistance fighters put their experiences down on paper, too. Once again, primary sources proved to be the most useful in getting the details right.

For nonfiction my approach is pretty much the same—I begin with contemporary historians and then make my way back in time, getting more and more specific and looking for the fun details (like the broken egg in DANIEL) that don’t usually make the history books.



Taking the Election to School: Archive of Education Debate Webcast

5 Questions With... Steve Sheinkin (BOMB)

Chris Van Dusen was born on St. Patrick's Day in 1960 in Portland, Maine. He attended The University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth and graduated with a BFA degree in 1982. He spent several years illustrating for kids magazines before he wrote his first book, DOWN TO THE SEA WITH MR. MAGEE which was published by Chronicle Books in 2000. His latest, IF I BUILT A HOUSE is his fourteenth book.

IF I BUILT A CAR and the follow-up, IF I BUILT A HOUSE, detail the decidedly futuristic, but simultaneously retro, visions of a boy named Jack. Why did you decide to root Jack’s forward-looking fantasies in a time before much of the digital technology we now take for granted?

In my opinion, the everyday designs of the 50s and 60s were so much more interesting than the way things look today. The cars were cooler, the houses more sleek, everything from furniture to fashion was so much more appealing back then. Even the colors stood out.

That's probably why there is so much interest in the "retro" look these days. I LOVE things from this era, and so I never even considered putting Jack (the main character from the If I Built... books) in the present day. In my mind, he had to exist in 1964.

Picture books can be a great way for teachers to connect art and literacy. Since many of our readers are likely more familiar with the literacy aspect, can you talk a little about the process and techniques you used to create the illustrations for IF I BUILT A HOUSE?

All of my illustrations are traditional paintings. I use a paint called gouache (I tell kids it rhymes with "squash") which is sort of like an opaque watercolor. It reproduces extremely well. In other words, the colors you see in the printed book are almost exactly identical to the original art. I do not use computers to produce my illustrations. A lot of people think I do because my colors are so flat and smooth, but that's another thing you can do with gouache.

I paint my illustrations on cold press illustration board which has a slight texture. Before I start a painting, I've already sketched and re-sketched the picture several times. Then I transfer the final sketch to the illustration board and start painting. I usually paint a picture from the background to the foreground. For example, if I'm painting an outdoor scene I almost always start with the sky. Since gouache is opaque, I can add things in layers and build up the painting as I go. I like to experiment with gouache and use it in all sorts of different ways. You can get some terrific effects as a result. A typical spread illustration (that's a picture that goes across two pages) takes me about 2-3 weeks to paint. So to complete the illustrations for a 32 page book can take several months!

Many aspects of your work have been inspired/influenced by Dr. Seuss and you’ve been known to sneak nods to the legendary author into your illustrations. What Dr. Seussisms might sleuthy students find in IF I BUILT A HOUSE?

Besides the basic format of the book (which was inspired by a formula Dr. Seuss used in a lot of his books, specifically IF I RAN THE ZOO and IF I RAN THE CIRCUS) there are a few things that, like you say, are nods to Dr. Seuss. Things like the gloved hands on the "Kitchen-O-Mat" and the red and white stripes in Jack's shirt and elsewhere that are similar to the stripes on the hat of THE CAT IN THE HAT. There are also several little things in the illustrations that I picked up from IF I BUILT A CAR. I think kids will have fun discovering those as well.

Your book THE CIRCUS SHIP was used extensively in Maine’s classrooms. What is your favorite classroom lesson/activity that you’ve witnessed using one of your picture books?

It's always very rewarding when a teacher uses one of my books to develop creative projects for their students. I've seen several Circus Ships in the schools I've visited where a different student draws an animal, cuts it out and pastes it on to the ship. One ship I saw was about 15 feet long and extremely impressive! I've heard of teachers that read the "Mercy Watson" books while the kids munch on hot buttered toast. AND IF I BUILT A CAR has nicely inspired many kids to use their imagination and create their own cars. I've seen cars made out of shoe boxes (and bigger!) and elaborate drawings rich with detail of all sorts of imagined cars. Like I said, it really makes me feel good.

Your books are written in rhyme and reviewers note that they read smoothly and effortlessly. How do you keep your rhyming skills so sharp?

Rhyming is tricky, but it's my preferred way to write. I say it's tricky because if it's done right, you hardly even notice it, but if it's off, it sticks out like a sore thumb. It's hard work to make a book rhyme from start to finish, flow effortlessly, and still carry on a continuous story. I work my lines over and over again until they scan without hitches. It’s almost musical in a way. There has to be a beat to each line, and the beat has to stay consistent throughout the book.

When I'm working on a story, I constantly read it out loud over and over again. If I stumble on a line, it's tweaked until it's just right. I occasionally use a rhyming dictionary, but not very often. And rarely do I start writing a book at the beginning and work through until the end because you may come up with a really good rhyme that may work at the end of the story. So I jot everything down on small scraps of paper and then piece it all together like a puzzle. It's an odd way to create a story I know, but it seems to work for me.



5 Questions With... J. Patrick Lewis and Jane Yolen (TAKE TWO! A CELEBRATION OF TWINS)

Reviews of Winter Books for Children

Sean Beaudoin is the author of FADE TO BLUE and YOU KILLED WESLEY PAYNE. HIs latest novel is the rude zombie opus THE INFECTS. His stories and articles have appeared in numerous publications, including THE ONION, the San Francisco CHRONICLE, SLATE, and SPIRIT, the inflight magazine of Southwest Airlines. He frequently ends his bio with an ironic or self-deprecating personal comment.

Nero, the protagonist of your new novel, THE INFECTS, is on a wilderness trek when zombies (in the form of camp counselors!) strike. He and cohorts must rely on their knowledge of zombies in pop culture to survive. Which books, movies, or TV shows would you rely on in if you were in the same situation?

Definitely Voltaire. And Hunter S. Thompson. Also, the Dirty Harry series. I’d probably need a healthy dose of BREAKING BAD and THE SOPRANOS. And multiple viewings of STEEL MAGNOLIAS and ROAD WARRIOR. Dr. Ely Kyburg’s ZOMBIE DIANETICS would no doubt be indispensible as well.

THE INFECTS, like most stories involving an undead apocalypse, is pretty heavy on blood, violence, and gore. How difficult was it to stay true to the tropes of the genre, yet still write something that teens would find fun, relevant, and entertaining?

When I first sat down to put zombie to paper, my only caveat was that I was either going to write an undead novel that staked out new territory, or I was not going to do it at all. I may be naïve or even deluded, but I think THE INFECTS has a unique origin story and internal logic. In terms of gore, I’m under the impression that it’s on the light side compared to what’s typical of the genre. I think of it more as a black comedy than straight horror.

As far as predicting what teens find relevant or entertaining, I remain mystified. I just try to write stuff that I would have dug at sixteen and hope there are enough like-minds around to sell out a printing or two.

You’ve noted that zombie stories can be a way of discussing serious global problems (i.e., poverty, global warming, etc.) in a very entertaining way. What about the flesh-eating undead makes them a fun vehicle for exploring such serious topics?

I guess because they’re sort of a blank slate upon which almost any sublimated fear, violent fantasy, or political viewpoint can be grafted. There’s always another zombie angle. For instance, I’ve always wanted to know what happens when there’s no one left to fight back or hide or barricade themselves in basements. When there’s no one left to brain zombie skull with baseball bats or run screaming through the woods. What happens after the last human is eaten? Do all the zombies suddenly look up and shrug? Do they shuffle around purposelessly for months, years, decades? Do they just lie down and never get up again?

I want to see a movie about post-human zombie society, where the zombie leaders all come together like the United Nations and decide what their stated goals and resolutions are. How they eventually get over their differences and build schools and hospitals and libraries. How they start to get fat and comfortable, watching reality TV and giving each other the finger on the highway.

When the zombies win, we all win.

Because then we are them, and they are us.

Just with worse breath.

Reviewers have noted that THE INFECTS includes a critique of fast food/large scale chicken production. How does that fit into the context of a zombie story?

Fast food freaks me out. I literally haven’t eaten McDonalds since 1986. My abstention is not so much political in nature—although I’m sympathetic to that line of thinking—as it is that factory scale meat processing strikes me as hallucinatory and demented. To be able to sit down and eat a Quarter Pounder with bacon and cheese you simply can’t allow yourself to ponder the steps required for it to arrive boxed and steaming in front of you. I wanted readers to think about that just a little bit, without being preachy.

Personally, I’d always rather hear a good chicken-anus joke than listen to a lecture. And the bottom line is that people are going to eat what tastes good to them, regardless. But so are zombies. And, as we all know, zombies mostly prefer sweaty, alienated teenagers.

You’ve said that you write YA because you feel it allows you to reach people who really care about what they are reading. What experiences or observations have led you to this conclusion?

I sometimes get letters from teens alluding to a deep connection with one of my books, in ways I’d never anticipated while writing them, and expressed with a combination of heart-melting enthusiasm and intelligence. I don’t think I can describe many letters I’ve received from adults in quite the same way.



Putting Books to Work: Ann Rinaldi's A BREAK WITH CHARITY: A STORY ABOUT THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS

Beyond the Notebook: Writing a la Poe

R.J. Palacio lives in NYC with her husband, two sons, and two dogs. For many years, she was an art director and book jacket designer, designing covers for countless well-known and not so well-known writers in every genre of fiction and nonfiction. She always wanted to write, though. She kept waiting for the perfect time to start writing, but found that it’s never the perfect time to start writing a book. So she decided to just go for it. WONDER is her first novel.

WONDER is the story of Auggie, a boy with severe facial deformities (or, as you prefer to call them, facial anomalies) who’s entering the fifth grade at Beecher Prep after being homeschooled all his life. While WONDER is a book that deals with bullying, you’ve said it’s ultimately a story about the power of kindness. Why?

Bullying can be a lot of different things. There are some obvious forms of bullying that happen to Auggie in the book, but there’s the insidious kind of bullying that happens that is less obvious. That kind of bullying—and I’m not sure the word “bullying” is even the right word here—is harder to stop than the other kind because it’s harder to see. Social isolation. Malicious gossip. Hostile group dynamics. In my mind, the only way to combat these more subtle forms of bullying is by creating awareness of their harm.

We can’t teach kids empathy, but we can help foster it. And we can’t teach kids to be kind, but we can show them how kindness can empower them. Kindness is the best antidote to that more subtle form of bullying.

You credit an encounter you and your sons had with a young girl with facial anomalies similar to Auggie’s for inspiring WONDER. In prior interviews, you’ve expressed disappointment in the way you reacted to the situation. How did writing WONDER help you work through those emotions?

I was disappointed because I wished that I could have had the wherewithal to talk to the girl and her mother. Instead, I was so afraid my toddler would hurt her feelings by his reaction, I bolted—and that just made it all worse.

Writing the book was my way of making it right. I guess it was my way of creating a world in which a girl like that would be okay, and happy, and feel safe. Like the song says, “with love, with patience, and with faith, she’ll make her way.” I wished for her a joyful life.

Auggie is the protagonist of WONDER, but the story weaves his first-person account with those of his classmates and family members. Why did you choose to have the reader experience the story from so many angles?

I wanted to tell Auggie’s complete story, both from the outside and from within. He’s a smart kid, but he doesn’t always understand the impact—beyond the looks he gets—that he has on people around him. And I wanted to show that impact. To do that, I knew I had to leave his head, but I gave myself two rules: 1) the characters would all propel the narrative forward, and tell a piece of the larger story in mostly linear, forward-moving motion; 2) the characters would enhance Auggie’s story.

Multiple reviewers have noted that by the end of the novel, the reader no longer thinks of Auggie in terms of the way he looks. How did you coax the reader through this transformation of perception?

I’m glad to hear that, but I can’t take credit for the way readers might have changed their thinking. It wasn’t conscious on my part to transform the reader’s perception about anything: I really was just telling Auggie’s story. If their vision of him changed, it’s to their credit.

Some characters in WONDER bully Auggie, but others hurt him inadvertently. How can teachers and parents help students understand that their actions can be hurtful even if they’re not being openly mean?

We create empathy by asking questions: what would it be like to walk in someone else’s shoes? How would you feel if someone said that about you? Getting kids to think about the other person, other people, is the best way, I think, to having them understand the impact of their mean words. The real issue is making kids realize that they have control over the choices they make: they can either choose to be mean or they can choose to be kind.


5 Questions With... Lesléa Newman (OCTOBER MOURNING)

Teaching Tips: Stand Up in Silence

Lesléa Newman is the author of 64 books for readers of all ages including the short story collection, A LETTER TO HARVEY MILK; the teen poetry collection, OCTOBER MOURNING: A SONG FOR MATTHEW SHEPARD; the middle-grade novel, HACHIKO WAITS and the children’s books, A SWEET PASSOVER, JUST LIKE MAMA, THE BEST CAT IN THE WORLD, THE BOY WHO CRIED FABULOUS, and HEATHER HAS TWO MOMMIES. Her literary awards include poetry fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Artists Fellowship Foundation, the Dog Writers Association of America’s Maxwell Medallion, and a Highlights for Children Fiction Writing Award. A past poet laureate of Northampton, MA, she currently teaches writing for children and young adults at Spalding University’s brief-residency MFA in Writing program.

You’ve said that you wrote the groundbreaking HEATHER HAS TWO MOMMIES because certain kids and families were being left out of the children’s book conversation. As we observe Banned Books Week, can you reflect on how alternative stories and voices are marginalized in children’s publishing?

Back in 1989, when I first wrote HEATHER, there were no children’s books that showed a family that consisted of a child with two lesbian moms. A woman approached me on the street and said, “My daughter doesn’t have a book that shows a family like ours. Somebody should write one.” And I knew by “somebody” she meant me.

I also knew firsthand what it felt like to not have my own family portrayed in a book, movie, or on TV, because I grew up in the 1950s and never read a book about a little girl with curly brown hair eating matzo ball soup with her bubbe on Friday night. I read books about children being visited by Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny, which were things my family did not do. So I felt different. Which is why I wrote HEATHER HAS TWO MOMMIES.

Things have definitely changed since 1989, when a friend and I published the book together, funded by ten-dollar donations from dozens of people. Several years ago, Tricycle Press actually invited me to write a set of board books for children with two moms and two dads; they also joyfully published my book, DONOVAN’S BIG DAY, which takes place on the day Donovan’s two moms wed. But we need many more voices to truly represent the diversity of our society.

You’ve been called a “dangerous” writer by those who disagree with and seek to ban books such as HEATHER HAS TWO MOMMIES. As you formulate ideas for your stories and poems, how does this expectation that your books will be controversial affect how you write and what you write about?

I never think about audience when I write. I always tell writers, if you’re going to worry about offending someone, you might as well put your pen down now (and I actually still do write with a pen!). In fact, I assume someone is going to be offended by what I write (though that is never my intent). You can’t please everyone, and I am not trying to please anyone.

When I sit down to write, what I am trying to do is tell the most beautiful, truthful, and authentic story that I can. Writing and publishing are two different and distinct acts. Though I can’t think of anything that I’ve ever written that I’ve hesitated to publish. I would rather have people have strong opinions about my work (positive or negative) than not to care about it at all.

Your new book, OCTOBER MOURNING: A SONG FOR MATTHEW SHEPARD, tells the story of Matthew’s tragic murder in 1998. You were the keynote speaker at the University of Wyoming’s Gay Awareness Week when Matthew, who was a student there, was killed. How did your proximity to the violence influence the poetry you wrote for him?

Since October 1998, I have been haunted by this hate crime. Matthew Shepard was a member of the University of Wyoming’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered Association, and one of the last things he did on the Tuesday night of his attack was attend a meeting to finalize the plans for Gay Awareness Week.

When I gave my keynote speech, there was an empty seat in the front row, and I kept picturing him sitting there (I had seen his photograph in the newspaper). I met some of his friends and promised them I would dedicate all my gay rights speeches from then on to Matt’s memory, which I have done.

As far as the poetry goes, when I started writing OCTOBER MOURNING, my experience in Wyoming came rushing back as though it had happened yesterday. I knew there was no way I could find out what truly happened at the fence that night, so I used my imagination to explore the impact of Matt’s murder in fictitious monologues spoken by the silent witnesses to the crime: the truck Matt was kidnapped in, the fence he was tied to, the moon that watched over him, the deer that kept him company all through the night.

In hindsight, I can see that what I was looking for (and found) was the compassion shown by so many others in the face of such hate.

Beginning Monday, we’re observing “Bullying Prevention Week” on the Engage blog. You travel to schools and deliver an anti-bullying message entitled, “He Continues to Make a Difference: The Story of Matthew Shepard.” What have you found to be the most effective way of approaching the topic with students?

First of all, with high school students, as with anyone, you have to be real. I begin by talking about myself and my story: what it was like for me to come out. Then I read some of the poems from OCTOBER MOURNING while showing photos of Matt, so that my audience sees that he was a real person. Before he was “Matthew Shepard” the martyr, the icon, the headline, the cause, he was “Matt.” He was a kid with a family, with friends, with dreams and hopes and fears, just like the kids in the audience.

Then, after I read for a bit, I lead the students through a guided visualization in which they imagine a world that is safe for everyone, and I have them think of one thing they can do to stop the hate. Then I have them make a commitment to the person sitting next to them to do this one thing within a week. And then we have a discussion.

It’s important for high school kids to know that they are the ones who have the power to stop bullying in their schools. It’s got to come from them. Not the adults around them.

During your education you had the incredible opportunity to be mentored by poet Allen Ginsberg, who faced obscenity charges for his poem “Howl.” What did you learn from Ginsberg that was helpful or applicable when others have tried to ban or silence your work?

Allen, or “Ginzy” as he liked to be called, was the kindest, most generous person I ever met. When I worked with him, my job was to answer his mail, and he had no concept of hierarchy. Whether the letter was from a very famous writer, a senator, Ram Dass, or a farm boy in Kansas who was gay and didn’t know who else to write to, Allen paid the same complete attention to every single letter. When I was drifting about, he let me stay in his apartment for several months, until I got my feet back on the ground.

So I learned to be kind and generous from him, especially to other writers. He took great joy in the success of his students and I learned from him that when one of us succeeds, all of us succeed. I also learned the importance of his writing mantra, “First thought, best thought,” which doesn’t mean that the first thing you put down on paper is perfect and doesn’t need to be revised. It means go with that wild, crazy idea that pops into your head out of nowhere (like “write from the point of view of the fence Matthew Shepard was tied to” for example). And then revise, revise, revise.

As far as being silenced goes, Allen would have none of it, and I will have none of it. If you don’t like what someone else is writing, write your own story in response to it. When I was growing up, the worst thing you could say in my house was “shut up.” It’s important to use your voice, and write your letter to the world, as Emily Dickinson so famously said. Or as we used to say during the AIDS crisis in the eighties, “Silence = Death.” And lastly, in the words of the great poet Muriel Rukeyser, “The world is not made of atoms. The world is made of stories.” And we need those stories, every single one.

© 2012 International Reading Association. Please do not reproduce in any form, electronic or otherwise.

K-12 Reviews: 30th Anniversary Salute to Banned Books Week

5 Questions With... the legendary Judy Blume!