Blog Archives

ReFoRe Bonus Links + Ask Carrie

4/30/2015

Lucky you! This posted early! The normal posting date for Ask Carrie + Bonus Links will be the last Thursday of the month in the future.

Ask Carrie
Urania Smith wants to know:
“How much room does an author have in dictating that a person of color is reflected in the illustrations when the topic is not cultural? I think it's important for kids to see themselves reflected in books where culture isn't the focus also.”

Carrie:
Thanks for the question, Urania! The flavor we give our text influences the way an illustrator visualizes a creation. Therefore, we need to put as much as we can into our characters before we write. Interview your character. Do you know everything about him or her? Every detail will not make it into a picture book, but the voice will come across loud and clear. Physical features and “descriptive” types of details are not normally included in illustration notes. However, as a writer who supports your statement: “I think it’s important for kids to see themselves reflected in books where culture isn’t the focus,” it can’t hurt to offer an illustration note to spread #WeNeedDiverseBooks fever.

Of course, I am one opinion. What do you think? Chime in below and start thinking of new questions. I will answer one or two during the next Ask Carrie session.

Lucky you! This posted early! The normal posting date for Bonus Links + Ask Carrie will be the last Thursday of the month in the future.

Bonus Links
Cornering Your Passion to Boost Growth
by Carrie Charley Brown

As soon as you walk into my house, you get a glimpse of my office. It is not neat. It is not tidy. The floor is covered with picture books. They’ve replaced the carpeting, with the exception of a small path to my chair. If you venture to the living room, you’ll find library bags full of picture books lining the hall. More stack the coffee table and beneath it on the floor. What’s for breakfast? Picture books. Lunch? Picture books. Dinner? Well, you know. -To read the rest of this post visit WRITERS RUMPUS

Save the Scraps
by Carrie Charley Brown

Revision ignites my thoughts… Oh, the possibilities! And with so many directions to turn, why ignore any of them? As writers, we are quick to dismiss an idea that doesn't sit right. If you are like me, typing most drafts directly into the computer, that little backspace action can permanently erase a perfectly good idea. Fast. But, what if you had kept your nearly dismissed ideas? -To read the rest of this post visit the GROG.

THINK QUICK interview with Picture Book Author Monica Kulling

Hi Monica! Congrats on the upcoming May 1st release of your second Tweedles picture book, The Tweedles Go Online. I love the family dynamic and subtle pieces of history that are weaved into this story. All of the THINK QUICK themes below appear in your book. Let’s see which way you lean. Remember, THINK QUICK!

On Communication:
Talk on the Phone or In Person?

(Read Monica's answer and more about The Tweedles at Carrie On… Together!)

12 Comments

April Mentor Text Check-In

4/21/2015

19 Comments

Now that the ReFoReMo buzz has worn off a bit, how are you doing with your mentor text goals? Is your new habit sticking with you and helping with your writing goals? I’ve heard a few say that they became rather addicted to having a little library list delivered to their inbox every day. That’s what the third Thursday of every month is for. Not only will I offer additional recommendations, but also check to see how you are doing on the current challenge.

Diverse Challenge
At the conclusion of ReFoReMo, I challenged you to write a diverse picture book. (View the challenge and additional recommendations HERE.) As mentioned in the post, diversity presents itself in many forms. I would eventually like to write several new diverse picture books. However, for this challenge, I focused my current efforts toward revising one that I had already written. Since my main character struggles to overcome a speaking disorder, I am studying The Boy and The Jaguar as my main mentor text. The rest relies on life experiences, disorder research, and continued reading of diverse mentor texts. I am still transitioning this story to include the just-right words and proper awareness of the disorder. Therefore, I’d like to extend our diverse writing challenge into next month, as well. How are YOU doing on your diverse writing goals?

Additional Picture Book Recommendations

HENRY’S FREEDOM BOX: A TRUE STORY FROM THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
By Ellen Levine and Kadir Nelson

A DANCE LIKE STARLIGHT: ONE BALLERINA’S DREAM
By Kristy Dempsey and Floyd Cooper

MUMBET’S DAY OF INDEPENDENCE
By Gretchen Woelfle and Alix Delinois

ONE PLASTIC BAG: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of Gambia
By Miranda Paul and Elizabeth Zunon

DEEP IN THE SAHARA
By Kelly Cunnane and Hoda Hadadi

ASK CARRIE
Do you have mentor text questions? Please leave them in the comment section and I will address a select few in each week's "Ask Carrie" post.

Carrie Charley Brown is the founder and administrator of ReFoReMo, a research challenge and blog for picture book writers. She is a professional critique mentor with an editorial eye, a picture book writer, kidlit video producer, writing coach, and guest blogger on various sites such as Writer's Rumpus and Kids Are Writers. In addition to ReFoReMo, she runs a separate blog, Carrie On...Together, which features THINK QUICK and Mystery Author interviews each month. She was a 2014 CYBILS fiction picture book panelist and an elementary teacher. You can follow her writing journey right here on this site.

19 Comments

April Author-Educator: Jennifer Cole Judd

4/15/2015

20 Comments

Guest Post by Jennifer Cole Judd

When the idea began forming for my picture book, Circus Train, I had just been to the circus with my little family. I knew I wanted to capture that sensory experience, and a few couplets began forming in my mind for what I thought would be a short poem for a possible magazine publication. I had written and published poems and co-edited a poetry collection before, but a picture book was a new (kind of intimidating!) frontier for me. Could my percolating poem about a lively day at the circus develop into a viable picture book that would keep readers turning the page?

Bring in the mentor texts!

1. Rollicking Rhythms

I wanted the rhythm of the text in Circus Train to be an integral part of the mood and excitement, so I went to texts where the rhythm and rhyme scheme created momentum in the story. Mentor texts such as To Market, To Market by Anne Miranda, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. and Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson served as examples of rhythm done well, creating a pace that keeps the reader bouncing along.

2. The Power of Poetry

For fun, sharp imagery and excellent rhymes, I turned to poets like Douglas Florian. Since my story was essentially a poem in picture book length, poetry collections were excellent mentor texts to show how to make every word pack a punch in a tiny space. Consider an excerpt from “Venus” in Florian’s collection, Comets, Stars, the Moon and Mars: “Scalding-hot surface,/Nine-hundred degrees./Nothing can live there,/No creatures,/No trees.” He uses crisp images and tight rhymes in list form to describe the planet in a tiny (yet creative!) space. Collections such as these helped illustrate how to select the right words to generate creative rhyming pairs.

3. The Perfect Form

As I looked to mentor texts to help me tighten the structure for Circus Train’s rhyme, Verla Kay’s wonderful “cryptic rhyme” (also referred to as “terse verse”) provided the ultimate model. In her picture book, Rough Tough Charley, Kay captures the story of Charley Durkey, a young orphan woman who posed as a man to become a respected stagecoach driver in the 1800s. She uses tight, carefully worded verses to evoke imagery in a small amount of words, allowing the pictures (and the reader’s mind) to flesh out the story: “Charley, orphan,/Runs from town./Hides in stable,/Hunkers down.” Terse verse became the perfect form for my little circus story, allowing the imagery to unfold by compelling me to shave off superfluous words and keep the pace lively.

What I love about these texts, and poetry, in general, is the potency of words; so much meaning, mood, musicality, and imagery is concentrated into short, carefully chosen phrases. More importantly, they show how rhymes and poetry can be like Aladdin’s Genie--“Phenomenal cosmic power, itty bitty living space.”

Wow, Jennifer! Thank you so much for allowing us inside your mentor text journey to publication! Sometimes the mentor experience can carry us beyond the text and span the globe. Please visit HERE for the April Mystery Author Interview with Miranda Paul to find out how passion and experience shaped her newest picture book, ONE PLASTIC BAG.

Jennifer’s picture book, Circus Train, debuted this March (Two Lions). She also co-edited An Eyeball in My Garden—And Other Spine-Tingling Poems (Two Lions, 2010). Her poems have been featured in children’s magazines such as Highlights High Five, Cricket, and Spider. She dreams of joining the circus, but for now is content to juggle her writing life with her husband and five children in Texas.

You can follow Jennifer at www.jennifercolejudd.com, or on her Facebook author page and Twitter.

20 Comments

Revealing ReFoReMo: Jen Garrett Explores the Evolution of Picture Books

4/7/2015

33 Comments

Over 400 people followed the first annual Reading for Research Month (ReFoReMo) journey in March. Participants discovered how mentor texts and research methods could enhance their picture book writing experience. The goal of the ReFoReMo Blog is to continue supporting your journey with picture books as mentor texts. We will strive to follow this schedule until next February when ReFoReMo kicks into gear again:

1st Tuesday- Revealing ReFoReMo, Featured Participant
2nd Tuesday- Featured Author-Educators (2)
3rd Tuesday- Writing Challenge Check-In, Monthly PB Recommendations + Ask Carrie
4th Thursday- Ask Carrie Answers, plus bonus picture book links

And now...Revealing ReFoReMo!

by Jen Garrett

ReFoReMo encouraged us to become better writers through reading picture books. We learned great insights from countless blog posters and commenters on how to glean techniques on structure, plot, character, voice, and page turns (plus a boatload more!)

Today, (now that it’s over), I want to play Guest Poster and give you one thing that really struck me as I researched.

Noting Publishing Trends

Picture Books have evolved as publishing trends and readership tastes have changed. Here are some examples:

2nd Person POV

THEN (1985):
Please Try to Remember the First of Octember

Versus

NOW (2014):
How to Babysit a Grandpa or Grandma

These three books are told in 2nd person POV, and they each have a character illustrating the “you,” but they have a subtle significant difference. The narrator in Dr. Seuss’s book seems to be an adult - or at least someone outside of the book - while in the books by Jean Reagan and Lee Wildish, the narrator seems to be talking directly to the reader, not the character. This demonstrates a trend to engage the reader more in picture books today.

Word Choice

THEN (1996):
The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash

Versus

NOW (2012):
Dragons Love Tacos

I’ve heard a rumor that word count is trending down. That’s why I was surprised to find that Dragons Love Tacos has a HIGHER word count than The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash. How can that be? Jimmy’s Boa seems so much longer. The reason, I think, is word choice. In today’s books, sentence structure tends to be simpler and there are less “filler’ words allowed. Also, illustrations in past books do enhance the story, but today they seem to carry more of the main story weight. Books today tend to invite the young listener to interact with the story more as it is read aloud.

Fairytale Retellings

THEN (2009):
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs

Versus

NOW (2013):
The Three Ninja Pigs

Fun twists on old fairytales is not new by any stretch of the imagination, but what has changed is the characterization. Even when the main characters are grownups (how else can you spend years learning to be a ninja?), they tend to look and act more youthful in fairytale retellings of today.

Nonfiction Biographies

THEN (1979):
The Value of Believing in Yourself: The Story of Louis Pasteur

Versus

NOW (2012):
Those Rebels, John and Tom

In addition to language, word choice, and illustration differences, these two books demonstrate a shift in how nonfiction biographies are told. Biographies today tend to be less plot-driven, and more character driven. Rather than telling how the character recognizes and solves the problem, picture books today tell how the character developed to be just the right person for the problem.

Thank you to all the ReFoReMo bloggers who introduced me to the NOW books of this post (plus tons more).

Thank you for sharing your revelations, Jen!

Did YOU participate in ReFoReMo? Perhaps you found a particular research method helpful or made significant discoveries? YOU are also eligible to submit an article for the Revealing ReFoReMo series. Submission guidelines are posted here.

JEN Garrett writes for, about, and around children all day. But sometimes she finds time to do the dishes at her home in Northern California. She also finds time to participate in SCBWI, facilitate The Writers Bloc at her local library, query agents, and read mountains of books. How? We don’t know.

33 Comments

2015 ReFoReMo Prize Announcements

4/2/2015

29 Comments

The very best ReFoReMo prizes are the writing revelations we have gained. Over 400 people followed the ReFoReMo journey. There will definitely be some amazing picture books on the horizon! Congratulations, again, to everyone!

In addition, many of you qualified to enter the Rafflecopter for some amazing extras. I’d like to once again thank our prize donators, who are listed below. Your continued generosity in the kidlit community amazes me! Congratulations to the following very lucky and dedicated writers:

Winner of the fiction picture book critique from Carrie Charley Brown
Mary Warth

Winner of the fiction picture book critique from Penny Parker Klostermann
Maria Laso Elders

Winner of Power Down Little Robot by Anna Staniszewski from Josh Funk
Laurie J. Edwards

Winner of the Mentor Texts for Writers Ebook by and from Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Karen Nordseth Roos

Winner of the picture book critique from Marcie Colleen
Jilanne Hoffmann

Winner of the 20-minute phone consultation from Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen
Elaine Hillson

Winner of Susanna Leonard Hill’s Making Picture Book Magic Course
Laura Jenkins

Winner of the 30 minute SKYPE Consultation from Renee LaTulippe
Ann Magee

Winner of a handmade writing journal from Suzy Leopold
Juliana Lee

Winner of a handmade writing journal from Suzy Leopold
Robin Currie

Winner of Joyce Sweeney’s Fiction Picture Book Essentials On-Demand Course
Heidi Yates

Winner of Mira Reisberg’s Hero’s Art Journey Course Home Edition
Kristi Veitenheimer

Winner of Angie Karcher’s Writing in Rhyme to WOW! Course
Rebecca Colby

Winner of the rhyming picture book critique from Lori Degman
Carrie Finison

Congratulations to all ReFoReMoers! It has been an amazing month!
(And now, I must sleep.) *big grin*

29 Comments

ReFoReMo Day 31: ReFoReMo Family Cheers for New Mentor Text Habits

4/1/2015

202 Comments

by Carrie Charley Brown

Welcome to our celebration, ReFoReMo Family! I hear our theme song playing loud and clear! A family that reads together, stays together. From the lyrics, you will see it's clear that we need to keep our goals in sight and persevere. (My only alteration is to add "brothers" to the sisters in the lyrics.)

Whether you read one book or five each day, you are a winner! If you increased your reading research habits in any way, you are a winner! Even if one mentor text helped you revise a manuscript, you are a winner! I am proud of each and every one of you! Please leave me a comment below to share your achievements. Then, please post your ReFoReMo Winner Badge on your blog or website, and link it back to this address: http://www.carriecharleybrown.com/what-is-reforemo.html

Thanks, again, to Lori Nawyn for the beautiful artwork!

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, our time together is not yet over. There’s a lot more in store for you! You are part of the ReFoReMo family now and I'm so proud to be your ReFoReMo Mama! (Bring it in for a hug!)

This challenge would not have been possible without lots of support. Please give a standing ovation to the 2015 ReFoReMo Admin team: Kirsti Call, Suzy Leopold, and Tracey M. Cox. They assisted with the Facebook group, shared guest-educator posts in the big wide world of social media, and spread good discussion vibes! They offered mighty fine guest-educator posts of their own, too, wouldn’t you agree? BIG HUGS to these gals!

Stay on your feet for our guest-educators! They offered valuable, varied resourceful posts and recommendations. Thank you, thank you, thank you! There is a bookmark in the ReFoReMo sidebar for each of their posts, and I encourage you to revisit them and keep a watch on their achievements. Hugs and high fives are on the house for all 32 guest-educators!

Okay, okay…Enough of the mushy stuff. It’s time for Rafflecopter directions:

If you consistently read picture books every day between March 8-28, commented on each prize post (including this one), and you are properly registered (following #1 and #2 from the registration post), then you are eligible to enter the Rafflecopter drawing one time. This will place you in the drawing for all of the prizes. You may view the prizes by scrolling through the Rafflecopter (see dots under the first listed prize.) If you enter more than once, you will be disqualified. Registrations and comments will be verified before announcing prize winners. But, as far as your reading goes, we are on the honor system. The Rafflecopter is only open from 12am CST March 31 to 12am CST April 1. One day. That’s it. Make sure you take advantage of your entry while you can.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you for dedicating yourself to the picture book craft. You left a trail of sweat that leads right to the library... and your house… and the bookstore. I can’t wait to see your name in lights!