Category: children’s literature

Posted on by Cynthia Reeg

PAPER WISHES

In this bittersweet story set in the United States during 1942 and World War II, 10-year-old Manami—a Japanese-American girl—endures evacuation and internment at the dessert camp of Manzanar. Forced to leave Bainbridge Island with her family, she must abandon her beloved dog and settle in a harsh new environment.

The author writes in poetic prose of the heat, drought, crowding, and awful food. Poor Manami becomes mute due to the hardships, but she sends colorful letters (paper wishes) on the wind in hopes of better times.

This powerful story is a testament to bravery and fortitude. It is a touching and finely-executed glimpse into a difficult period in American history. Told in a simplistic style, this book would be a wonderful read for even younger middle graders.

Posted on by Cynthia Reeg

Lizzie and the Lost Baby

Middle Grade Historical Fiction

10-year-old Lizzie and her 7-year-old brother Peter are forced to evacuate wartime London, due to the threat of bombs. They and a multitude of other children ride a train out to the distant country, where waiting families take the children into their homes. Some of the families are more welcoming than others.

Lizzie and Peter find themselves boarding with Elsie, a depressed woman who has lost her infant and husband. They are supervised by unfriendly Madge (Elsie’s sister who lives next door) and Madge’s friendlier husband, policeman Fred. Although they miss their mother, their Nana, and their absent father—who is away at war–Lizzie and Peter begin to settle into the routine.

The plot thickens when Lizzie finds a baby abandoned in a field. In her quest to find the baby’s origin, she learns of a band of gypsies, camping nearby. Young Elijah, one of the gypsies and the baby’s brother, is intent on finding his lost sister whom he left under protest. Lizzie, torn between helping her hosts who’ve taken her in and returning the baby to its rightful family, must face numerous obstacles in an attempt to do what is right.

The author, Cheryl Blackford, does a splendid job creating a rich period setting. Young readers will be intrigued by the children’s wartime story, told in such lovely lyrical style. They will cheer on the two main characters and be pleased with the satisfying ending.

Posted on by Cynthia Reeg

Monster Writing Prompts: Part 3

Creating CHARACTERS: Family

 

In FROM THE GRAVE, monster families care for each other. How does a writer create characters readers care about?

 

In FROM THE GRAVE, the main character, Frankenstein Frightface Gordon, has a rather typical family, very comparable to a human family. A mom, a dad, and an older brother who likes to torment him. His dad and brother, unlike Frank, are green and gruesome—just as Frankensteins should be. His dad works at the Haunted House Factory. His brother Ghoulbert, is rather slow at school but excels at mischief. Frank’s mom is a classic monster as well—a shrieking siren, floating here and there and everywhere. Poor Frank, with his pale blue skin and neatnik ways is the only oddbat in the family.

Does your main character (protagonist) have a family? What are they like? How does your protagonist fit in—or not? Supporting characters (the semi-important characters like family & friends) can have a big impact on the protagonist. They can be fun and interesting foils –characters that contrast another character, highlighting the differences. Make sure you know your characters well. Then when you write your story, you’ll make them come alive (or as alive as a zombie can be) for your reader too!

A good way to find out everything you need to know about your character is to create a Character Chart. Here’s an example below.

  1. NAME
  2. AGE
  3. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
  4. FAMILY
  5. FRIENDS
  6. LIKES
  7. DISLIKES
  8. FEARS
  9. GOALS
  10. HOMETOWN

Does your monster have a mummy–or daddy???        

 

Posted on by Cynthia Reeg

An Evening with Author/Illustrator DAV PILKEY

TRA-LA-LAAAA!

How does an evening with children’s author Dav Pilkey begin? (well,after waiting in a looooong line wrapping all the way around Headquarters library…)

Waiting for Captain Underpants

Waiting for Captain Underpants

With, of course, a loud “Tra-la-laaaa!” yelled in unison by all the kids (and many of the parents) in the audience. It’s Captain Underpants’ typical call to action.

I had the fun opportunity to be part of this attentive and rambunctious crowd last night at the St. Louis County Library’s Author Event, celebrating the release of CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS AND THE SENSATIONAL SAGA OF SIR STINKS-A-LOT. (# 12 in the series)

Screen Saver for Captain Underpants

Screen Saver for Captain Underpants

 

MAKING READING FUN

Dav Pilkey, who will have 60 books to his credit with 2016’s THE ADVENTURES OF DOG MAN, has revolutionized reading for boys especially. USA Today called him the “savior of the reluctant reader.” His short, graphic chapter books with their silliness, fast pace, and bathroom humor are a perfect fit for young readers. The kid-friendly author creates his tales based on his own elementary school experiences.

The Adventures of Dog Man

The Adventures of Dog Man

As a child who suffered from ADHD and dyslexia, he understood the power of pictures to tell a story. Even though he often found himself doing hallway detention for drawing in class, he couldn’t resist making more clever comics—to the delight of his fellow students and the dismay of his teachers.

“Underwear is not funny!” said Mr. Pilkey’s second grade teacher. “Grow up!” she cautioned him. “You can’t spend the rest of your life making silly books!”

Drawing favorite characters

Drawing favorite characters

Oh, how little she knew, and how very far Mr. Pilkey has enriched young readers with the delights of his underwear crew.

Some of his other titles include:

The Ricky Ricotta Series 

Dog Breath

Paper Boy

The Adventures of Ook and Gluk

Super Diaper Baby

Dogzilla!

 

Nowadays, the author prefers drawing in more natural spots, like along the beach in Japan when visiting his wife’s family. But even there, he still suffers criticism—from some monkeys that is. Mr. Pilkey shared a video of himself at work sketching, while several monkeys attempted to confiscate his pens and offer vocal commentary on his work-in-progress.

Dav Pilkey Attempts to Draw Despite Monkey Antics

Dav Pilkey Attempts to Draw Despite Monkey Antics

 

 

HANG IN THERE!

At the end of his presentation last night, Mr. Pilkey made a point about perseverance. He showed a picture of a scowling egg and a happy potato in boiling water. “Don’t let adversities overcome you,” he said. “Rather use them to build on. In boiling water, a potato softens but an egg becomes hard.”

 

READING POWER

Many young readers in the crowd wore red capes, similar to Captain Underpants. On back of the capes was the message, “Reading is Power!” Thanks, Mr. Pilkey, for enhancing children’s literature with your comic characters and delightful illustrations and proving that strong reading muscles really do rock!

Posted on by Cynthia Reeg

Pitch Wars Mentee Bio

                                 IMG_0774

I’ve decided to participate in Brenda Drake’s PITCH WARS contest, which is ramping into action even as I type. The contest allows mentees to submit a work for consideration by numerous literary mentors (MG-Adult). If a mentee wins a mentor with his/her fabulous entry, then the two will collaborate on the manuscript, polishing it to perfection with the hope of garnering favor with an agent during the second round. I love the idea of working with a talented writer and bringing new life to my story. This year the mentors have requested some bio info on perspective mentees, so here is mine.

DSC03252  Writer-in-trainingJr. Hi Picture_adobe

I can’t really remember a time when I wasn’t reading or writing (as depicted above by a local grade school artist. Yes, that’s me on the right in middle school.) So in pursuit of all things literary, I majored in English Lit in undergraduate school and then earned a Masters in Library Science. We moved fairly often, so I’ve shared my love of books with students in numerous states in both school and public libraries where I’ve worked.

Writer BOOK

 

For the past 10 years or so, I’ve actively pursued my writing career. I’m a member of SCBWI and ALA. I try to attend as many writers’ conferences and classes as possible. I belong to a couple of critique groups and continue to learn the craft. Some of my short stories and poems have been published in children’s magazines, like HIGHLIGHTS and LADYBUG. I’ve won the SCBWI Missouri Mentorship and a few other regional awards, earning spots in anthologies. Earlier this year, I signed a two-book deal with Jolly Fish Press for my MONSTER OR DIE series.

FROM THE GRAVE is slated for publication in Fall of 2016.from-the-grave

 

Ab-ra-ka-dab-ra!

I like to make magic with words.

I love writers like

Kate DiCamillo

Avi

Louis Sacharabracadabra_jean_maurice_

Ransom Riggs

Cornelia Funke

Richard Peck

Jonathan Stroud….the list could go on and on.

 

YogaDownDog_pic

I try to flex my writerly muscles, taking on new challenges and improving my technique.

 

I’m creative and love the language of words, priding myself on creating musical prose.

ani_thinkingcapBOOK

 

funpencilBOOK

 

I’m an attention-to-detail person and open to revision. I know that good writing can become even better.

 

danceBOOKI love to write stories that appeal to

reluctant readers, especially boys. What can I say, I was sandwiched between two brothers growing up. I had two sons of my own and now two grandsons.

20150319_105951I like action, adventure, silliness, laugh-out-loud humor, magic, and spooky stuff. I want readers to finish my book and ask the librarian, “Do you have another one like that?”

m-childrens-author-cynthis-reeg-monster-books

 

Thanks, Mentors, for volunteering and your pay-it-forward attitude!

Hats off to everyone entering!

39 Years

Posted on by cindyindigo

Mummy Fun

It turns out that you are never too old to have a birthday–as in a 3,000-year-old birthday!!!

That’s right. A mummy at the St. Louis Museum of Art will celebrate his birthday next month. His name is Amen-Nestawy-Nakt, and he lived in 900 B.C. He was a priest at the Temple of Karnak and must have done a good job to merit such a fancy mummy case.

Perhaps you’d like to celebrate mummies too. A great way to do it would be to explore a few books on the topic. There are a great many good ones out there at your school or public library or your local bookstore.

Here are a few I found:

SECRETS OF THE MUMMIES by Harriet Griffey
This is a Level 4 reader that presents mummies from around the world.

CREEPY EGYPTIAN MUMMIES YOU WOULDN’T WANT TO MEET by David Stewart
Ten of the creepiest mummies and information on how the whole mummification process works.

MUMMIES IN THE MORNING by Mary Pope Osborne
Another Magic Treehouse Mystery–this one finds Jack and Annie in Ancient Egypt encountering lots of adventures.

MUMMIES IN THE LIBRARY by John Perritano
Who knew mummies and math go together? Well, it seems very beneficial to know division in order to embalm a mummy. Find out how it all works with this math challenge story from iMath Readers.

Hope you find someMUMMY special to hang out with!
Happy reading 🙂

Posted on by cindyindigo

An Alligator at Story Time

A very courageous librarian in Whitestone, New York–Susan Scatena at the Queens Library–promised eager summer readers that if they read at least 4,000 books she would read to a real life alligator. Well, close to 350 students signed up and read nearly 5,000 books, so Ms. Scatena did what she promised.

She read “There’s An Alligator Under My Bed” to five-foot Wally, a female alligator–and to hundreds of amazed children. Wally made no comment about the Mercer Mayer picture book, but she seemed mesmerized during the story time. A good book will do that to a reader.

I must admit that I’m much braver reading or writing a story ABOUT an alligator than actually reading TO one. But my hat is off to brave Ms. Scatena. She proved just how important children’s literacy is to her. Hopefully, you’ll be just as committed in helping the children you know–or yourself–be the best reader(s) possible.
The library–at your school or at the public library–is always a great place to start. There are so many choices of interesting, exciting, funny books that you can choose from. And I bet you can find a helpful librarian there as well.
Here’s to COURAGEOUS reading!

Posted on by cindyindigo

National Novel Writing Month


Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve checked in here. November was a busy month. I signed up for the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and finished the rough draft of a middle grade historical fiction story. So I was quite busy.

I’ve been asked, “Now what do you do?” Well, a rough draft is just that–rough. It still needs lots of work. I’ve already started to analyze the plot for weak spots, as well as the characters. Since this is historical fiction, I also need to do much more research to insure the accuracy of the time period.

But the initial readings of the story by some of my writer colleagues has been favorable. In the next few months, I hope to get feedback from a few industry professionals at Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators events I’ll be attending.

Darcy Pattison has a great website offering writerly advice. She sent out updates throughout the month of November with plot tips. They were wonderful. You can sign up to receive her weekly updates. Plus, she has a great book on revising a story, Novel Metamorphosis: Uncommon Ways to Revise. I’ll be referring to that for help with improving my new story.

Now back to my writing…

Posted on by cindyindigo

October Fun

HIGHLIGHTS Magazine has some fun October online activities.
Try your skills at Build a Scarecrow. Create the scarecrow of your dreams, then print your creation.

Or there is JACK-O-LANTERN MAKER. You can even make it glow.

While you’re there, read a spooky story. MYSTERY OF THE HAUNTED HOUSE by Ellen Javernick is sure to scare you silly.

And if you want a snack to go with your story, mix a batch of SPIDER SNACKS. They’re frightfully delicious.

Posted on by cindyindigo

Halloween Coloring Page


Here is the link to a fun Halloween coloring page by illustrator, Jack Foster.
The characters are from Donna Shepherd’s POODLE AND DOODLE picture book.

I know it’s early yet, but have you decided what you’re going to be for Halloween?
You know what would be fun…read a Halloween book every day until the big day on October 31.
Here is a good one to try: J IS FOR JACK-O-LANTERN: A HALLOWEEN ALPHABET by Denise Brennan and illustrated by Donald Wu.