Literacy Now

Certain teachers stand out in your mind, even forty years after the fact. My fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Dietz, sent me a note when I graduated, asking if I still wrote poetry. And Mr. Perkins, my seventh grade social studies teacher, never flinched away from my essays—even when they were about topics like me mourning my yet-to-blossom bosoms. I still have two essays I wrote for him, not-very-neatly printed on lined paper, kept for the circled A at the top.

And then there were a half-dozen teachers who let me read in class after I had finished my work. All these teachers encouraged my love of reading and writing. And the two things are so tightly intertwined I can’t really tease them apart. To be a writer, you must be a reader.

Too often we tell kids who want to be writers: write what you know. But that advice should be modified to: write about what you want to know. Have I ever been blind? A serial killer? A drug dealer? No. But I have written best-selling books about people who are.

My secret: I read!

Reading is key to making writing come alive. When I first get an idea, I go to my library’s website and enter key words that might lead me to books. I’ll also Google the same terms, looking for articles and more books. If I read a book that covers interesting ground, I’ll use look at “Customers who bought this item also bought...” on Amazon to get ideas of more books to check out. As I read, I jot down ideas and questions.

When I get further into a project, I will also look for blog posts or listservs because they can offer an unfiltered and intimate experience. For example, I’ve Googled terms like “What it feels like to get shot” or “my car accident,” and I’ve lurked on message boards for cops.

I always read up on a topic before I interview anyone. Reading gives me a baseline of knowledge so I can respect people’s time. It shows my sources that I’ve gone to the trouble to learn something before asking for their help.

Here’s an example of how this process works. GIRL, STOLEN got its start with a real-life story I saw on the news. A blind teenager named Heather Wilson went out to dinner with her folks. When they also wanted to go Christmas shopping, she decided to stay in their minivan. Her mom left the keys in the ignition in case she got cold. A guy came along, saw the keys, didn’t see Heather, and stole the car. When she realized what was happening, she asked him to let her out.

The next day, I watched Heather and her mom being interviewed and I thought, That would make the great beginning to a book. What if the thief had kept her?

There was only one problem—other than having occasionally seen someone walking with a white cane, I knew NOTHING about what it’s like to be blind.

I began by reading first-person accounts of going blind. Several teachers and librarians recommended FOLLOW MY LEADER, by James B. Garfield, published in 1958, but still powerful today. I also read COCKEYED, by Ryan Knighton, TOUCHING THE ROCK by John Hull, and many more.

Once I had done some reading, I started reaching out to people who are blind. The Oregon chapter of the National Federation of the Blind put me in touch with a girl who was blind and went to a regular high school. And I asked a woman who reviews mysteries and is blind about clichés she saw in books or movies about blindness. She said that in movies there is often a dramatic moment where the blind person asks a sighted person if he or she can touch the other person’s face. She told me she had no desire to feel another person’s face, yet sighted people will often offer to let her touch theirs. So I had my character talk about this issue.

I hadn’t thought about putting a guide dog in my book (Heather doesn’t use one) until I read account after account about how much a guide dog can change the life of a person who is blind. People see you as much more approachable, and you can travel much faster. And of course, the dog is also your companion.

Luckily for me, there’s a Guide Dog School for the Blind that’s only an hour away. I made arrangements to visit. When I got there, I could see people in a meeting room. Some were seated, but two of them were walking—not dogs, mind you, but people! The people were on their hands and knees, with one arm up in a harness. It turned out that the students were going to get dogs the next day, but a dog can’t tell you you’re pulling too hard or not hard enough. So for a time, instructors played the roles of dogs.

Writing books has led me to read and do things I never would have. For THE NIGHT SHE DISAPPEARED, I read many articles on how to make architectural models, the profession of the killer. I also learned how divers search rivers for bodies. For an upcoming series called POINT LAST SEEN, I’ve learned how to tell animal bones and teeth from human, and I’ve been taught the finer points of finding crime scene evidence in the woods (leather gloves and painter’s kneeling pads are key, since you spend hours on your hands and knees).

And kids respond to this research. Two or three times a week, I’ll get a note like this:

“I am in high school and I have read two of your books and I'm trying to find some more. They are thrilling and I personally don't like to read but your books just draw my attention!”

“I finished the book in two days. My friend invited me over one day after school but I told her, ‘Sorry I want to finish my book!’ I'm not a big reader but this book made me love it. For some reason I can’t stop thinking about that book, I even have dreams about it.”

At the IRA conference, I’ll be talking about how mysteries and thrillers can be gateway drugs for reluctant readers. Study after study shows that the key to getting kids to read is to give them material that interests them. And mysteries and thrillers certainly appeal to kids, who love CSI-style shows and explorations of good and evil.

Come see April Henry at IRA 2013! She will be co-presenting the "Mystery Reading and Writing" workshop on Saturday, April 20, 2013.

April Henry is the NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of many acclaimed mysteries for adults and young adults, including the YA novels GIRL, STOLEN; THE NIGHT SHE DISAPPEARED; and the thriller FACE OF BETRAYAL, co-authored with Lis Wiehl. She lives in Oregon.



It's All About the Story

Digging for Details that Make Historical Fiction Delicious

p: Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Photographer: Michael Zamora

How is it that I’ve become a digital publisher, after a long and happy career as both a schoolteacher and an author of many books?

The simple truth is that I have been always been interested in technology, and particularly attentive to the seismic digital shift that is happening all around us. Several years ago it became clear to me that as a teacher, a prolific author, and a gadget geek from way back, I wanted to become a participant in planning the way forward into this exciting, new digital age.

Kids are digital natives, unlike most adults. (We—you and me—are more like digital immigrants.) Kids are intuitive in their approach to technology. They're comfortable with exploring, navigating, and utilizing gadgets virtually without instruction. Kids love technology and depend on their personal technology such as smartphones and tablets for fun, for social interaction, for communication, for exploration, and for learning in virtually every aspect of their lives.

Except school. Far too often, we've been asking our children, these true digital natives, to unplug when they walk through the front doors of a school building. Why should this be the case? Our schools are supposed to be teaching 21st century literacy skills and preparing our young for the real world and the digital revolution. Although we may not be entirely there yet in terms of acceptance, it should be clear to most educators that reading, writing, learning, and even assessment will all soon be heavily influenced by digital devices and capabilities.

And so we began, two years ago, to develop a digital publishing platform designed to deliver high-quality, digital trade books—both fiction and nonfiction —into schools and libraries. Working with my wife and former SESAME STREET Creative Director Liz Nealon, we developed a streaming e-book delivery platform called StarWalk Kids Media.

This platform delivers on all the criteria that teachers and library media specialists told us were critical for them: high-quality e-books that work on whatever kinds of computers or tablets the school might have; that are available to be used by multiple students simultaneously, at school or at home; and (perhaps most importantly) are affordable. I'm a teacher as well as an author. I want my books to be read. And I want them available to every student in every school, not just the elite ones.

And so we began. At first, we were working exclusively with my back catalog—good books that I know kids and educators love, but that had been allowed to go out of print because of the economics of traditional publishing. I was thrilled to discover that, in the process of converting these books to formats customized for digital devices, we had the opportunity to also update the content. Wow! It was a dream realized. As a science writer, I’ve always had to accept the fact that virtually any book I write starts to be out of date from the moment it is published. My field is one that is ever changing. But in digital publishing, this is not the case. When there are significant changes, a digital book can be updated. So for example, my formerly out-of-print planet books are not only back, they have new illustrations and updated text.

Gradually, we began to reach out to other high-quality authors who, like me, had great books languishing, out of print, on their shelves. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, these treasures gradually came back to life—updated, digitized, and welcomed by a new generation of kids.

Today, StarWalk Kids Media publishes eBooks by nearly 50 well-known authors and illustrators, including Laura Vaccaro Seeger, David A. Adler, Johanna Hurwitz, Kathryn Lasky, Doreen Rappaport, Caldecott-winner Emily Arnold McCully, and many more.

We have also designed our e-books and their supporting materials to support educators in the implementation of the new Common Core State Standards. We worked with my friend, the renowned literacy expert Linda Hoyt, who designed a detailed format called Teaching Links, which we supply with each of our StarWalk Kids e-books. These Teaching Links match each individual text to applicable Common Core standards, and suggest classroom activities that support the CCSS goals.

And now, just in time for #IRA2013, I am so proud to announce that my new series, EINSTEIN ANDERSON: SCIENCE GEEK, has been completely re-thought, re-written and expanded as a “fiction meets nonfiction” hybrid, illustrated by the wonderful artist Kevin O’Malley (click here to read a sample chapter). The new books each have five fictional stories in which Einstein Anderson and his best friend, Paloma Fuentes, use their science knowledge to unravel all kinds of tricky puzzles and mysteries. At the end of each story the reader has a chance to solve the mystery before Einstein. And then there is a real-life science experiment that kids can do at home, so they can become Science Geeks, too! I’ve also loaded all the experiments as PDFs on my website so that kids and their teachers can download the experiments for free and print out to use at home or in the classroom.

I previewed this concept for about 1,500 educators at the Illinois Reading Council several weeks ago, and an audible gasp rippled across the room when they heard the "fiction plus nonfiction" structure. This is one of the Common Core standards that educators struggle with, and we are very excited about the prospects for this new series.

I am still primarily an author, of course. I rely on the professional expertise of my colleagues to run the StarWalk Kids Media publishing company. They are an exceptional team with unparalleled expertise in branding, editorial, design, programming, marketing, and distribution.

Each educator is finding his or her way into the new digital age. It is going to be a great day. And I am proud to be part of it!

Come see Seymour Simon at IRA 2013. He will be co-presenting “Focus on Engagement: Celebrating An Active Stance with Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking, and Viewing” on Friday, April 19, 2013.

Seymour Simon, whom the NEW YORK TIMES called "the dean of [children's science] writers," is the author of more than 270 highly acclaimed science books. He has received the American Association for the Advancement of Science/Subaru Lifetime Achievement Award for his lasting contribution to children's science literature, among many other awards. Seymour Simon is also a founding partner in StarWalk Kids Media (www.StarWalkKids.com), a streaming e-book platform designed to provide high-quality digital literature from top quality authors to schools and libraries. More than 50 of Seymour Simon’s popular books are now available in this digital format. Follow him on Twitter: @seymoursimon.



Engage - Plugged In

Rethinking the Old Dog—Can We Learn (and Embrace) New Tricks?

How would you like the chance to receive brand new books from publishing companies, plus get the chance to review those books and share your thoughts as part of an awards program? Members of the IRA Choices committees get to do exactly that.

For the past three years, I have been fortunate to be a part of the IRA Teachers’ Choices Committee. I stumbled upon the Choices program when I first became a member of IRA several years back. When I changed jobs from classroom teacher to curriculum specialist a few years ago, I applied to be a regional coordinator with the Teachers’ Choices program. I was chosen and I began finding teachers who were interested in reading with me. As an avid reader, I could not dream up a better way to spend my free time. Sounds like a lot of fun, right?

Being a part of the Choices program is great fun, but it requires some work as well. As a regional coordinator on the committee, it was my job to find teachers who would read and review the books. I found that I needed at least 50 teachers to make the project manageable. After the first year, I had teachers coming out of the woodwork to participate—they were excited to be able to see the new books and share their thoughts on them. I had to deliver books and collect reviews every so often and report those reviews to the committee chairs, but that job was doable because of the benefits of the program.

Each year, beginning in late June or early July, the shipments begin arriving. It is so much fun to answer the door the first time the UPS man comes bearing boxes of books. By fall, I am on a first-name basis with him!

The publishers that participate in the program are asked to send about 10% of the total books they publish to be considered for the Teachers’ Choices award. The numbers are slightly different each year, but that works out to be about 400 titles a year. It’s always a thrill to open up the boxes and see what books the publishers have chosen to send. Obviously, no one is a fan of every book they receive, but I have been introduced to so many genres and titles that I never would have picked up on my own.

You know when you’ve finished reading a great book you just have to talk to someone about it? This project has sparked so many conversations about books among teachers in the various districts that I’ve worked with through the Choices program. Sometimes teachers get very busy and they forget how important it is to stay informed about the new books that students are interested in. This program gives them an excuse—a reason to sit down and read one of the latest books that just very well might be a great book to put to use in their classroom.

Another benefit that I saw of this program was that teachers were reading books that they might not necessarily pick up on their own, but discover links to topics/content they are studying in their classroom. Some have been able to put the books to use right away.

I live in a very rural area and many of our schools have high percentages of students with free/reduced lunch and poverty rates. Many teachers spend their own money to provide books and other resources for their classrooms. With the Choices program, once the publishers send the books to you and you have completed the reviews, you get to keep the books. This has been a huge positive factor in many teachers’ classrooms; many new books have gone onto the shelves alongside books from garage sales and older children.

The annual IRA conference is only eight days away. Each of the choices committees—Children’s, Teachers’, and Young Adults’—will have sessions during the conference to share their winning books. There is also a booth in the Exhibit Hall (#3235) that showcases all the winning books. It’s staffed by committee members that can explain the program and answer questions to anyone who stops by.

Participating in this program has been so rewarding, and I hope to participate for several more years. Each of the committees has a little bit of a different focus and you can find out more about the committees and see past Choices winners on the IRA website: /resources/Booklists.aspx.

I encourage you to check out the website and our booth at the conference, and think about applying to be a coordinator for your region!

Don’t miss the Choices sessions and symposia at IRA 2013:

Children’s Choices: “Children's Choice Award Winners: Informational Books Take Center Stage”

Young Adult Choices: “Read It, Talk About It, Make a Difference with Young Adult Literature”

Teachers’ Choices: “Making a Difference by Enriching the Curriculum with Award-Winning Trade Books for Students in Grades K-8” and “Making a Difference for Readers, Writers, and Artists by Connecting them with Authors and Illustrators who Create Books that Inspire, Motivate, and Delight”

April Wulber is the ELA Specialist at the Darke County Educational Service Center in Greenville, Ohio. She provides professional development for eight county districts and some surrounding schools in the areas of the Common Core Standards and literacy. She has previously taught eighth grade language arts and first grade. She has been an educator for 10 years. April also enjoys reading and writing with her four-year-old daughter.



Children’s Choices Reading List

2012 Choices Reading Lists

Member of the Month: April Wulber

I guess there used to be a time when my forefathers would run into problems and actually have to solve issues themselves. Like let’s say my great-great-great-grandfather’s fence became damaged in a cataclysmic storm and now his cows were at risk of being eaten by predatory wolves with an affinity for grass fed organic beef. What would he have done?

p: Enokson via photopin cc

Fixed the fence. What would, moi, his great-great-great-grandson do? I’d call a fence fixer—and proudly, too.

I simply don’t have the time or the wherewithal to actually go fix my own fences. However, what makes this matter worth blogging about is that I personally hold almost no shame about the fact that I wouldn’t hesitate to offload this job to someone else. (Besides, I shop at Whole Foods for grass fed organic beef; even though their prices are a tad high, the quality is consistently top notch.)

Indeed, my great-great-great-grandfather might be rolling over in his grave at the notion that his kinfolk can’t or won’t grab his own tools and go deal with the problem himself. But me, I don’t see it as a matter worth getting anyone’s dander up about. (Like I do when people end sentences with prepositions, I might add.)

Big point: I outsource where prior generations didn’t and while it might cause consternation in the hearts of the elders, it doesn’t rankle me one bit. As The Who would say, “I’m talkin’ bout My Generation.”

Now, fast forward to Google. When I ask youngin’z about dates of historical importance, moments of nation-shaping salience, tremendously significant touch-n-go incidents that underpin the modern foundations of all that we say and do as modern Americans, what’s the response?

Y U askin me? Jst google it. (They even talk in text these days.)

Of course, this is where I get self-righteous. Okay, not remembering the exact date of when, say, the The Declaration of Independence was signed (that would be July 4, 1776… It’s, like, why we have the holiday with hot dogs and fireworks, dude) is, I admit, not too big of a deal. But understanding the significance the event had on the way we conduct society today—and how our society will continue to conduct itself in the future—is fairly important.

Or so I happen to think. But just because I think that way doesn’t mean everyone thinks that way.

“But, dude, I can Google that, too,” is what I hear in response. And indeed, this is also true. Google provides pages and pages of thoughts, opinions, ideas and so on the subject of interpreting the Declaration of Independence and extensive analysis on what ratifying the Constitution meant—and still means—today. Pages and pages on this subject exist. From the left, from the right, from the center, scores of erudite ideas as authored by scholars, people who are well-versed in the nuances, claims and counter-claims have weighed in on the matter

“So why do I need to swim in these waters?” asks the modern kid.

Of course, this is when I go into diatribe mode about not outsourcing to Google when you can and should be able to think for yourself because the importance of being able to fix your own fence instead of merely outsourcing the issue to…

Whoa. Hold on a minute there. Has what I think just happened really happened? Did I just turn into my great-great-great-grandfather? I’m not even a member of the AARP yet.

• It doesn’t interest me to fix a fence.
• It doesn’t interest me to reflect on the impact of the Declaration of Independence.



• But what happens when you can’t find a fence fixer and you have to do the work for yourself or you’ll lose all your cows?
• What happens when Google becomes inaccessible and you have to find the answers for yourself or you won’t be able to sustain our democracy?



• But I am teaching you a skill you need to know.
• But I am teaching you a skill you need to know.



• There’s un-quantifiable life value—especially in terms of self-sufficiency—to knowing how to make and fix things with your own two hands without having to turn to someone else to do the hard, heavy work for you.
• There’s un-quantifiable life value—especially in terms of self-sufficiency—to knowing how to think about things for yourself without having to turn to someone else’s thoughts to do the hard, heavy work for you.

Then, in a fit of frustration I exclaim, “YOU CAN’T JUST COUNT ON GOOGLE!”

But yes, we kinda can. If we are asking questions to which we already know the answers, that is. But if we are asking questions to which the answers are not yet in hand (i.e. How do we eradicate cancer? Can we heal the damage to our planet that industrialization has wrought? Can peace on Earth be delivered to all in a manner which all people actually feel peaceful towards one another?), perhaps therein exists our answer.

• The square root of 64? Who needs to know it? Just Google it.
• The capital of every state in the nation? Who needs to know it? Just Google it.
• What river borders both New York and New Jersey and what are the various options I have for crossing it via land, sea or air? Who needs to know it? Just Google it.

The answer is literally in our collective pockets (presuming you own a smart phone). Yet…

• The cure for the common cold? Can’t just Google it.
• Smartly assessing teacher performance in the classroom in a manner that demonstrates fairness, efficacy and balance? Can’t just Google it.
• Forecasting natural disasters in a way that can mean much less loss of life while also saving billions of dollars worth of property? Can’t just Google it.

But once these riddles are cracked, we will be able to “just Google it.”

My great-great-great-grandfather might have been right for his time, but my own feeling is that he’s wrong for mine. Question: Is this now true for our generation of educators? Are we dwelling on kids knowing skills that society has already rendered passé? After all, in modern times we plan on Google being here as much as we count on electricity being here, and I don’t hear anyone nagging kids to learn the art of candle making in case the lights go out.

Hmm, big question troubling me today: Can’t we/should we just outsource it?

It’s an ever-growing question.

Alan Sitomer was named California's 2007 Teacher of the Year. In addition to being an inner-city high school English teacher and former professor in the Graduate School of Education at Loyola Marymount University, Alan is a nationally renowned speaker specializing in engaging reluctant readers who received the 2004 award for Classroom Excellence from the Southern California Teachers of English, the 2003 Teacher of the Year honor from California Literacy, the 2007 Educator of the Year award by Loyola Marymount University and the 2008 Innovative Educator of the Year from The Insight Education Group. He’s the author of six young adult novels, three children's picture books, two teacher methodology books, and a classroom curriculum series for secondary English Language Arts instruction called THE ALAN SITOMER BOOK JAM. A Fun Look at Our Serious Work appears quarterly on the Engage blog.

It's a great thing to live in a storyteller's mindset and terribly useful since I write novels for a living: Hope Was Here, Rules Of The Road, Close To Famous, Almost Home, Peeled, Stand Tall, and Squashed, to name a few. It springs from my grandmother's DNA—she was a teller, a pro, quite famous in her day, even offered her own radio show (my grandfather said, “No wife of mine!”). 

My grandmother told stories to explain the world, all of the world. As a kid I struggled with the term fiction being defined as "untrue"—not my grandmother's stories! They were wondrously, gloriously true. They were in many ways the truest part of my life. 

When stories are your roadmap, the trip is a circuitous path; getting lost and found and flummoxed is part of the journey. When a writer creates a world, it's a crazy ecosystem where characters rise and fall and sometimes tell us what to do—the nerve! All day we're dealing with characters who need to mature, words that need umpteen adjustments, locations that don't always work. It can be plain annoying to try to arm wrestle a strong-willed bad guy, or to lie on a couch curled up in a blanket, pondering your subplot, and then have to convince your husband that yes, I am curled up in this blanket, but I am actually working. 

My first YA novel, Squashed, came out 20 years ago. In the two decades I've been in this business, so much has changed, including me.

But what hasn't changed is the point of writing, the focus and the fuel of it. At the end of the day, here's what it's about: Did you leave your heart on the page? Did you find something new to say? Did you squeeze your theme until all the possibilities oozed out? Did you argue with your main character, and if so, who won? 

Writing novels is about asking a zillion questions. How many times can you remember being scared, and how has that changed you and challenged you and deepened you? Where do you discover humor, and how do you let yourself laugh in the dark times? What's in your heart and what's in the hearts of your readers that will connect like super glue? Why are you doing this? Why are they reading you? Where is the you in your work and how does it change and shake and alter the landscape? How are you going to delve into that real scary truth you know needs to go in this story? Is it too much? Not enough? How could your editor not get that joke? How could she possibly suggest that chapter 12, all of chapter 12, be deleted? 

This is why being wrapped in a blanket is so useful at times. 

I try to write about issues that kids need to think about: homelessness, domestic violence, alcoholism, obsessive love, yellow journalism, fear, divorce, war, bullying, dishonor in politics. I try to show what happens when a kid finds his or her voice and begins using it in this complicated world. I try to laugh along the way, and for that reason, I don't like the box "humorous novel," because in the course of most weeks, we laugh, we cry, we shout, we're in despair, we mess up, we rise triumphant from the madness, we break open the emergency chocolate, and we get on with it. 

No adult novelist will ever hear these words blaring across a school loudspeaker: "The assembly will begin at 9:35, and I remind every student to listen and be respectful to our speaker. Let none of us forget what happened with last month's speaker." And you realize that you are the speaker, possibly in peril. You are no longer just a writer; you now wear the mantel of an entire assembly. No one ever thinks of being an assembly in career planning, but here you are. 

I'm the YA luncheon speaker at IRA this year. I will not eat much at that lunch, but I will try to provide some food for thought, some good bites of humor and truth, and I plan to be particularly insightful about my novels. Again and again I will come back to story, that glorious, frustrating, living, breathing structure that is a mirror to our lives, a friend when we are lonely, a kick in the butt when we need to pay attention. 

Decisions and choices—that's what makes a story great and what keeps it alive. And when it's alive, well, we're in for it. The moving van pulls up, out comes the furniture and the clothes, the knick knacks, out jumps the pet and that story moves inside our hearts with everything it's got, and refuses to leave. 

Joan Bauer wrote her first YA novel, Squashed, during a long recovery from a major car accident. "The laughter," she writes on her website, "helped me heal." Ten books and 20 years later, Joan continues to craft books that make readers smile. Her critically acclaimed body of work includes Hope Was Here, a Newbery Honor Medal winner, and Rules of the Road, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Her latest novel, Almost Home, was released in September 2012.