Johnny Appleseed by Anastasia Suen Writing nonfiction for early readers is a challenge. You want to share as much as you can about your topic, but children who are just learning to read can’t read many words by themselves yet. Much of what you want to say requires words that are too difficult for these… [Read more…]
Coming up on the 20th Anniversary of Lives of the Musicians: Good Times, Bad Times (and What the Neighbors Thought) By Kathleen Krull Lives of the Musicians would never have come about if I hadn’t known Kathryn Hewitt, the artist. She was painting these amazing caricatures of people she admired– famous philosophers, writers, artists. We started brainstorming on… [Read more…]
Thanks, NASA! by Tom Greve I was born in 1969. I don’t remember the year of course, but this winter, as I researched the work of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for Rourke Publishing’s book “Thanks, NASA!” the year began to take on new significance. It seems for millions of people around the world,… [Read more…]
Black & White: The Confrontation between Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth and Eugene “Bull” Connor By Larry Dane Brimner Because student questions are the beginning point of learning, the following activities use student reactions and thoughts as the starting point for a deeper look at Black & White and the history behind the interaction of Fred Shuttlesworth and… [Read more…]
Butterflies by Seymour Simon I surprised myself with the answer to a question I was asked by a student at a recent school visit. The question was: What is your favorite animal? My initial instinct was to say that it’s impossible to say which is my favorite animal…..it’s like having favorites among your own children.… [Read more…]
Activities for First Girl Scout: The Life of Juliette Gordon Low by Ginger Wadsworth 1. National History Day. Go to: www.nhd.org for details and guidelines. For 2012-13, the theme is Turning Points in History: People, Ideas, and Events. Consider doing a project on how Juliette Gordon Low turned her life around to create an organization… [Read more…]
‘Bringing’ On the Birds! by Susan Stockdale Bring On the Birds celebrates 21 distinctive birds around the world. I was inspired to create the book after watching a robin build a nest on a ledge above my front door. As with all my books, my first step was to write the words, paying close attention… [Read more…]
Titanic: Voices from the Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson “What is the hardest book you’ve ever written?” I get this question from students a lot. I usually say that my nonfiction title, Up Before Daybreak, Cotton and People in America, was difficult because the topic was so broad. I then offer a little advice: choosing a… [Read more…]
One Central Question by Marc Aronson Writing Master of Deceit: J. Edgar Hoover and America in the Age of Lies took me more time than any other book I’ve written. As I worked on draft after draft I kept struggling with one central question: how could I engage readers born after the end of the… [Read more…]
Music Was IT: Young Leonard Bernstein By Susan Goldman Rubin Researching and writing Music Was IT: Young Leonard Bernstein was a labor of love. For years I have greatly enjoyed music he composed such as Fancy Free, Candide and of course, West Side Story. And classical music he conducted with the New York Philharmonic and… [Read more…]
May 28, 2012
by asuen
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