Challenge

Just joined the POC Reading Challenge at Level 5. If you want to know what the heck I'm talking about click on the link. Ready, Set, Read!! Until next time.

Book Review: 8th Grade Superzero

I don't usually read middle grade titles, but I couldn't resist this one. 
8th Grade Superzero is jam-packed full of great characters and soul-searching questions. Reggie "Pukey" McKnight is struggling to find his place in the world. He is a member of his church youth group and routinely wrestles with his faith. His nemesis comes in the form of Donovan a kid who will never let hime forget what happened on the first day of school. (Here is a hint, it's the day his nickname was born.) When Reggie volunteers at a homeless shelter he begins to look at the big picture and suddenly his problems don't seem so big after all. He decides to run for class president hoping to make a change in his school and community. Will he become the cool kid he wants to be, or is he okay with just being Reggie?

Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich has written a terrific book. I loved Reggie and his core group of friends. I read in an interview she gave that she has more plans for the characters in the book. It will be very interesting to follow these characters as they grow up. Until next time.

Whitewashing Foiled Again!!

Dear Publishers,
Seems to me that when you are putting together the cover for a book, if the character inside the book is brown, then the picture on the outside of the book should be brown too. Just a thought. That way when people find out that you have whitewashed a cover and are up in arms, you don't have to go to the trouble of designing a whole new cover.

Until Next Time,
Jeannine

Need You Now

Ahhh, the art of the pitch. Not sure I have mastered it yet. Tying up a few loose ends to get my agent letter in the mail this week. Still working on my quick little summary of my story. If you want to give me some encouragement or advice, send it on. What makes a great pitch that someone says yes, I must read that manuscript.  Until next time.

Share-a-Secret Sunday

Hope you all had an enjoyable weekend. In my corner of the universe it was above 60 degrees today. Delightful!!!

On to my latest secret. I am entering a local writing contest. No secret about that, but the great thing is, they have given us a judging sheet to see how each judge ranks our story. We will actually receive the sheets after the contest with our score and the judges critiques. That is a pretty valuable piece of information. Looking at the judging sheet has really made me look at my own writing a little differently. Based on these qualities, would your writing make the cut?

1) Marketability
2) Visual Scene Changes
3) Appropriate Language
4) Age Appropriate Material
5) Engaging Characters
6) Plot
7) Meter
8) Rhyme

I'm sure their is a book out there broken down into chapters for each of these qualities. Mind you, this is for fictional picture books. I am going to type up the list and tape it in front of my writing desk. These are really great points to ponder as we all work on our masterpieces. Until next time.

Good News/Bad News

Bad News- My entire family has been done with the crud. NO fun!!! Now that I a feeling better, I have to spend the day de-germing my house.

Good News- I'm famous!!! Check me out over at Reading In Color. My first interview. Thanks Ari. Can I be you when I grow up?

Anywho, feel free to send me some congrats and/or Clorox!! Until next time.

One Step Closer

Finally finished my agent query!! I have been working on it since Thanksgiving. I haven't literally been working on the same letter since Thanksgiving but researching and all that jazz. I'm super excited because a writing friend of mine is referring me to her agent. She voluntered to do this. Huge honor, and huge opportunity for me. I am preparing a package to mail out next week. Exciting, scary, more scary. This could be my "big break" or it could be another no. Either way, I will keep on doing what I'm doing. I'm good enough, I'm smart enough and dog gone it people like me. Until next time.

Playing the Non Race Card

My parents did a great job of teaching our family the value of cultural differences. I have always been interested in learning about different cultures and traditions. One of the best things about reading is that you can sit at the dinner table with people you might not run into in your everyday life. I am bringing this up for two reasons. 1) If you saw my blog posting from last week about being a global reader, I hope you took a minute to jot some of those books down. 2) I have had several conversations lately with people claiming I don't see color. Excuse my French, but bullshit!! Me thinks you protest too much! We all see color. What is wrong with seeing color? The fact that we all look different, eat different foods, even pray differently is what makes life so interesting. There is nothing wrong with seeing color. We get into trouble when we see stereotypes. Uh oh, here comes a black guy, he's probably a gang member. Or, look at that Asian girl bet she's good at math. Or, look at those Hispanics, they need to learn English. We all have our baggage and preconceived notions. We are all guilty of making those and other snap judgments. The point is, you can't be open to learning the error of your ways when you are so busy playing the non race card. We all see in color, let's stop seeing in stereotypes.

Final note, my thoughts are with the family of Lucille Clifton, one of the pioneers of black kidlit. Thank you so much for throwing the doors open. Until next time.

Calm, Cool and Kick-Ass

Guess what friends? I am actually away from my family. I am in the deep snow of Ohio. I am visiting a friend of mine and having a great time. I learned a really valuable lesson yesterday and thought I would share it with you.

My friend Eva is dealing with a situation where a buisness promised her something and then refused to honor the agreement. Now the way I usually handle situations like this is to burst into tears and become so hysterical that I can't think of anything to say and just accept whatever crap is thrown my way. The way Eva dealt with the situation was to very calmly, tell them that they were going to honor the agreement and if they didn't then she would have to take further action. She was polite, she was calm and she was confident. As soon as she got on the phone with these people she took charge.I'm not sure what is going to happen, but I am pretty sure that they are going to find a way to rectify the situation.(If they know what's good for them.)

 The reason I thought it was important to share this with you is because most of you who read my blog are either writer friends or mommy friends. Either way, we are our own buisness. We have to stand up for ourselves, our words, our families. There will be times when we don't get the best deal or the outcome that we anticipate, so as buisness owners we are going to have to get out there and stand up for ourselves. I have filed this away in my mind and hope that when I am confronted with a similiar situation, I will have the confidence and spirit to handle it as well as my friend did. I hope this post inspires you to take no prisoners. I am woman, watch me kick-ass!!! Until next time.

Reading in a Global Society

Mitali Perkins has a great list on her blog. 2010 Notable Books for a Global Society. This list is compiled by the International Reading Association. I have read a few of the books on there, but not nearly enough. We live in a global society, so let's read like we do. Until next time.

Black History Month

I was really struck at the beginning of the month by a blog post my new BFF Ari. She wrote on her blog Reading in Color about her love/ hate relationship with Black History Month. She wrote about her experience of being an African American girl in a class(or school) where as soon as Feb 1 rolls around, all eyes turn to you. I identify with her story so much because when I was in high school I went to a boarding school where it was just little ole' me. So I soon became the spokesperson for my entire race. (no pressure or anything) I too have a love/hate relationship with BHM. It is great that we all take the time to intentionally recognize those who have gone before us, because otherwise it might not happen. That is part of the problem. Why isn't it happening everyday in every class? If you lived in this country and contributed something you should be studied and talked about. It shouldn't matter if you are white, brown or purple. I know my Pollyanna side is showing. I think the other problem is that teachers often reach for material that is quick and handy. You can find a zillion lesson plans for Martin Luther King Jr. I love teachers, I was a teacher but often times BHM is reduced to a quick discussion of slavery and/or Martin Luther King Jr. with a dose of Sojourner Truth thrown in. Our history is richer and bigger than that. Let's see if we can continue to move through the Civil Rights era and see what else is out there. There are lots of books out there that unfortunately don't get the attention they deserve. When you know better you do better and since I am like the most kick-ass girl ever, I have made a list for you. Now you know.Until next time.

Books to Enhance Your Black History Month Celebration:
One Million Men and Me
Bad News for Outlaws
Ron's Big Mission
Racing Against the Odds
Young Pele
Love to Langston
I and I Bob Marley
The Frog Scientist

Share-a-Secret Sunday

I have been reluctant to attempt any sort of weekly theme. Everyone seems to do it. Spotlight Sunday, Flashback Friday etc. I have been reluctant because I didn't want to be locked into blogging on a particular day if I didn't have anything to say. Anywho, I have decided to try it so here goes.

Welcome to the first Share-a-Secret Sunday. A chance to share your deepest darkest secrets. I promise I won't tell a soul! Just kidding. The secrets I'm talking about are craft related. I will share a tidbit of information I have learned along the way and hope you will respond as well. You guys are a bit lacking in the comment department. Don't worry, I still luv ya. My secret is that this week I have started typing up picture books. Whenever you go to another writer for help inevitably you will have a conversation like this.

Me: Oh, woe is I my writing is a shambles.

Writer Person: Oh well have you tried typing up a picture book. I've never done it, but people seem to think it is a good way to get a grasp on what makes a book work.

Me: (sniff, sniff) Well okay, Maybe I will try it.

And scene!! So I have had numerous conversations exactly like that one. No one will admit to doing it. I'm not ashamed. I did it! I have typed up two this week and you know what, it helps. The book I gained the most from was The Hat That Wore Clara B. by Melanie Turner-Denstaedt. It never won any awards but it is a great book. Really funny. The thing I noticed most from actually copying it down was how strong the pacing was. The sense of anticipation continued to build throughout the story. After reading it over and over I still get little butterflies in my tummy waiting to see if Clara B. will get to wear the hat she so desires. I am not exactly sure how to translate that into my own writing, but it is nice to study how someone else did it. Your turn friends. Remember it's Share-a-Secret Sunday. Have you ever or would you ever type up a book? Until next time.

Book Review: Does My Head Look Big In This?

Randa Abdel-Fattah has written a great book about a teen girl struggling with her identity. (What teen girl isn't?) If you can't guess from the title the main character in Does My Head Look Big in This? is Muslim. Amal is a Muslim teen who decides to wear the hijab(head scarf) in a post 9-11 world. Will she be able to handle the pressure that comes with wearing the scarf? I love the voice of Amal. She is a smart, confident girl but who wouldn't be insecure about outwardly showing your faith in these times. I also love the fact that she has a strong faith, but still struggles with fasting during Ramadan and not letting her emotions get the best of her when it comes to boys. I am happy to have discovered a new voice in YAF. Someone that can give a unique perspective to the teen experience. Until next time.

Still Here

Hello all. I'm still here, stuck in the house, with my children. Thankfully, since there is no school, I can wrangle one of my teeny bopper neighbors to come over and play with my kids while momma does something else besides be a momma.

Anywho, are you ready for this announcement? I have decided to totally revamp my story Color Me Cori. Last week I told you about the big critique I got from an established writer friend of mine. Although I would like to say she is crazy and doesn't know what she is talking about , she does. All of her critiques were right on (unfortunately). I also had another writer friend talk me in off the ledge. She also had to totally revamp a story of hers but now it is published and will be coming out in the fall. She said that after revamping the story it was better than she ever thought it could be. She also encouraged me to focus on my goal. My goal is publication, but also becoming a strong writer. So back to my writing desk I go. Until next time.

Happy Black History Month

Howdy folks. I'm stuck in the house for the third day in a row. Big snow for us here in NC. It is starting to melt (as are my nerves) so hopefully we will get out and about soon. On to more exciting topics. Can you believe it is Feb 1. In honor of Black History Month The Brown Bookshelf has a very exciting project called 28 Days Later. They spotlight an under-the-radar African American author or illustrator each day of the month of February. I happen to be BFF's with three of the writers on the site, but don't think I am biased when I say it is fabulous. They even have a poster you can download for classroom use. If I were still teaching it would be a very valuable resource. I certainly plan on checking out each author. Way to go Brown Bookshelf. You guys rock!!! Until next time my friends, take a little time today to learn something new.