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April 24, 2007
Hot Women of Children's Literature
Last week, I inaugurated the Hot Women of Children's Literature. Thanks to all of you who have written in support of this project. I acknowledge that my definition of "hot" may be different than Paris Hilton's. Or Miss Snark's. Or my 15-year-old neighbor's down the street. My mother -- one of the wisest and hottest women I know -- raised me on the creed, "pretty is as pretty does." So I tend to think hotness is more about what one does than what one looks like.
What's really hot is being able to write historical fiction that haunts, touches and educates readers. This week's Hot Woman has done that so many times, with Our Only May Amelia, the Jane Peck adventures and Penny from Heaven. I was reading the latter title while walking on the treadmill at the gym and nearly broke my neck when I was so engrossed in the book that I didn't realize the treadmill had stopped treading!
The hottest thing of all about Jennifer Holm is that she is planning to attend the ALA Newbery Awards banquet less than two weeks after delivering a child!
I'd like to see George Clooney do that.
Thanks to EM for nominating this week's Hot Woman of Children's Literature.
Posted by kirby at 10:28 PM | Comments (2)
Thank you, Elizabeth George
I had read several Elizabeth George mysteries -- set in jolly old England -- before I ever had a chance to hear her speak. Imagine my confusion when this petite, curly-headed woman stepped up to the podium and began to talk about writing. . .in a good old American accent. Turns out, California native Elizabeth George is such a fan of things British that when she began writing, she decided to ignore that advice to "write what you know" and instead wrote what she was crazy about, namely luxurious English mysteries. What a concept!
At that lecture, I picked up a copy of her Write Away, intending to read it right away (bad pun intended). So much for good intentions. Last week -- several years after that lecture -- I threw George's book in my bag as I left for the Texas Library Association conference and then for the Southern Kentucky Book Festival. Thanks to those long plane rides, I had plenty of time to read Write Away. And I devoured it! Though George says it's geared to new writers, I highlighted so much of the book, I nearly passed out from the fumes. What I especially fell in love with was the concept of THADs: Talking Head Avoidance Devices.
I'd written an article myself on anchoring dialogue to avoid conversations between characters that appear to float around in space (it may even still be posted on the Institute of Children's Literature website) but George takes the concept to the next level. And how elegantly simple her solution: give your characters something to do as they talk.
She thoughtfully provides a list of ideas near the end of the book, but when I gave my Tuesday night class the assignment to come up with THADs for their characters, they came up with some corkers: changing a baby's diaper, arranging a bouquet of flowers, skipping stones at a creek, kicking a soccer ball, playing tennis, and watching a building burn. What they found is that these activities not only grounded their characters in a specific time and place, the ensuing dialogue carried more weight and more meaning.
I pushed my students to think of THADs that were surprising in some way, given their stories. So, for example, in one student's futuristic tale where water is more precious than premium gasoline, arranging a bouquet of flowers in a water-filled vase packs a powerful punch. Two teenage boys talking about whether a certain girl likes one of them has a whole different impact when the conversation takes place while one of the teens is changing his infant son's diaper. And a plump preteen's walk to town in a nice dress and high heels reflects her 1930's walk into adulthood.
Give it a try yourself. Prepare to be amazed! And prepare to have a darned good time, too.
Posted by kirby at 09:41 PM | Comments (0)
April 16, 2007
Introducing: the Hot Women of Children's Literature
Blame jet lag or the inept and overly chatty driver who picked me up at SeaTac today as I returned home from a fantastic trip to the Texas Library Association in San Antonio. But I'm checking in, cranky, cranky, cranky. I overheard a mom in an elevator at the Marriott RiverCenter teasing her daughter: who ate a big piece of grouchy pie?
Me.
I'm grouchy because the brilliant, warm and amazing Mitali Perkins fretted on her blog about having no line at TLA while Mo Willems' line snaked around the proverbial block. I'm grouchy because smart, sassy, stunning women writers never get mentioned on anyone's "hottest women in children's literature list." I'm grouchy because I can't figure out why the very few men writers in the children's lit world garner so much more attention than the women writers.
So rather than just gripe, I’m taking the initiative and starting what I think is the first and only “Hot Women of Children’s Literature” (playing off of Betsy Bird’s “Hot Men of Children’s Literature”). The debut pick for my HWOCL is (drumroll please!) Mitali Perkins. She’s smart, sassy and hot. Not just on the outside, but on the inside where it really counts. She writes books with heart and tenderness and takes her readers to places most of them have never been, like Bangladesh. I read Rickshaw Girl on the plane on the way home and added it to my list of favorite chapter books. Best of all, Rickshaw Girl is illustrated by a former Institute of Children's Literature student of mine, Jamie Hogan. How great it that?
I’m not going to even try and keep up with the prolific Betsy with my posts, but as I meet new candidates for the HWOCL, I’ll post them. And if you have any recommendations, send ‘em my way!
Hey, I'm not so grouchy anymore.
My husband and cat are both very glad about that.
Posted by kirby at 08:40 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack