"Let's Talk Character" - interview for TBA

I recently did an interview with the wonderful Barbara Gruener- counselor and character coach.  She raised some interesting questions that I think are worthy of further elaboration.

Do  I intentionally weave values or virtues into my work?

Often parents or teachers will tell me that they love the fact that my stories have such "great messages."  I know they mean this as a compliment, and so I ever so gently explain that I actually do not set out to do that when I write. Rather, I think of myself as pointing to some truth, some beauty, some little slice of this world that has amazed me, delighted me, or simply made me marvel at the universe, and then I set out to share that whiff of wonder with my readers.

 That marvelous storyteller, John Shea, maintained that one tells a story, "not to educate or indoctrinate, but to illuminate, to enchant the readers into the world of the story, in the hope that when they emerge from the story, they do so, with an enhanced view of the possibilities of their lives."  What a lovely description of....HOPE.  Indeed the best stories do give us a healthy dollop of hope - they "enlarge" our vision of the world - as all "passions" should do.

So, although I do not intentionally set out to "weave a value or a virtue" into my stories, a little part of who I am seeps into every story I write.  And, as I tell children in schools, a fancy way of saying that is - "the color of your thought dyes your soul." Marcus Aurelius.  And so, the color of my soul dyes every story I write.....all the loves and longings, sorrows and sadnesses, hopes and dreams that made me who I am today, do spill out into my writing.   After all, how could that not be so?  Writing (good writing) does  not just come from the head, but also from the heart and soul, and therefore, it must follow that who we are will be quite evident in the stories we choose to tell and write.

Check out the full interview HERE

School Stories

 A recent article in The Guardian about "school stories," got me thinking.

Andy Milligan,w ho won The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize listed his Top 10 "school stories," which a former teacher of his said "were collectively preposterous because school was predictable, safe and filled to the brim with timetabled tedium. The teacher was cross that writers were pulling off some kind of con-trick, and yearned for a book that showed school as it really was." http://bit.ly/Odiuu3

 How odd - surely the lure of stories is that they let children see how things might be, could be, and even will be!  John Shea, that wonderful storyteller, maintains that :

"one tells a story not to educate or indoctrinate, but to illuminate, to enchant the reader or listener into the world of the story in the hope that when they emerge from the story, they do so with an enhanced view of the possibilities of their lives.” 

In other words - great stories give children a big dollop of hope and cheer - a way of dealing with all of life's tears and trials that come their way.

  My favorite school stories from childhood were probably the Enid Blyton Mallory Towers Series - a boarding school with twins and midnight feasts, completely unrelated to my little Scottish primary school - and that's why I loved them!

 When my girls were little, their favorite "school story" (I'm using the term loosely here) was- of course, non other than - 

As Jane Yolen said, "Literature is prismatic.  Light shines through the excellent books or dances off and the rainbow it gives shine on and on in a child’s life in a thousand different ways."

How can we ever stop loving a little book-loving girl like MATILDA!  Thank you Mr. Dahl!

 

The Corner On Character: The Sandal Artist

 Thanks to the wonderful Barbara at The Corner on Character for including The Sandal Artist in her Perfect Picture Book Friday.   And take a look at the list of other books with similar themes - I love linking up books with similar themes for children.


The Corner On Character: The Sandal Artist: Hooray for the return of Perfect Picture Book Friday ! I have been waiting all summer to showcase this amazing new find. Title : The S...

Passion or Addiction?

I feel lucky to be a person of many passions, but my two most ardent passions are probably reading and writing.  Some years ago, while reading a book about writing, I came upon a quote that ultimately inspired the title of a talk that I give frequently to teachers and parents - Nurturing a Passion for Stories.  The quote (and I cannot now remember who wrote this) is "while our addictions diminish us, our passions enlarge us."

I think this distinction is one that we can and should share with our children.  When I go to schools I love to talk to children about what inspiration is - what inspires me and what inspires them.  I start by telling them that the word itself comes from the Latin word - inspirare - meaning TO BREATHE LIFE INTO.  Isn't that a great definition?

So then they tell me many of the things that inspire them - that make them feel more alive, that BREATHES LIFE INTO them.  Their answers usually run the gamut of: singing, dancing, basketball, horse riding, tennis, biking, art, reading, being with their family or friends or pets, baking a cake or playing the piano. 

And then, we agree that all these things they have mentioned are PASSIONS - they are all the same, because they are all things that they love, but they are also different, because we all love different things.  We talk about Inventor Inventor McGregor and his passions- singing, fiddling, dancing, mending, painting, walking down the winding lane behind his house, inventing, and of course....his family!

Hector McGregor plays a rousing reel or a sweeping strathspey!

 

 

 

 

 

 With older children, I share the quote about addictions diminishing us and passions enlarging us... they usually "get" it at once!  McGregor is a wonderful example of someone who indulges his PASSIONS and in doing so - makes the world a brighter place.....

He invents some helping hands for the triplets!

and monky tails and balloon books!

 Recently, I was exchanging some emails with the wonderful Barbara at The Corner on Character, and she shared an amazing video with me - check it out to see all these kids KNITTING caps for babies in developing countries.  I am an avid knitter and have been since I was 7 years of age - all children in Scotland learn to knit from an early age - so....you could say it is one of my PASSIONS!  But when Barbara mentioned its addictive quality (and I know what she means), I had to share with her how I see knitting - and especially in her case where all these children are knitting for such a great cause, as a PASSION - you are creating all kinds of things that make life better for other people....it is BREATHING life into you and into those who benefit from the knitted piece!

The idea for Inventor McGregor actually came to me when I was in my kitchen caught up in a frenzy of creativity: knitting- well, I had my knitting projects all over the kitchen counter ready to sew up, I had bread baking in the oven, a calligraphy project that I was mulling over  (I was taught Italic handwriting at school in Scotland, so I use it to write out little poems or quotes and give as gifts), and of course, I had several books scattered here and there, along with my writing notebook.  I was having a wonderful time, when it suddenly occurred to me that I had better be careful, because maybe I would "use up" all my creativity on this baking and knitting and calligraphy, and then not have anything left for my writing.  As soon as I had that thought, I sat down and began to write fast and furious - the outline for what became Inventor McGregor

I realized that creativity is of course, INFINITE - and the more you create, the more there is to create...sort of like the magic well in the fairy tales - as long as you keep dipping your ladle into the well, it will never run dry.  Inside all of us, I tell children, there is a magic well - your HEART.

For as long as you keep using it, it will not run out of love - as a matter of fact, it is quite the opposite. I share with children, the example of my grandmother who had 9 children, and my mother who had 3 children.  Yet, my grandmother did not love her 9 children any less than my mother loved her 3 children - a mother will love all the children she is given to love.....

As dear Vincent Van Gogh said, "The best way to know God, is to love many things!"

So, I believe that stories are one such way of teaching our children to LOVE many things, and when they learn to do that, they will discover their own PASSIONS, that in turn, will make the world a brighter place for us all.

At day's end, maybe we should ask our little ones that question, "What inspired you today?  What breathed LIFE into you?"

Thanks to Barbara - a kindred spirit!

 I need to thank the wonderful Barbara Gruener for her insightful review of The Giant King that she posted on Fourth and Ten Blog.

Barbara is a counselor and a character coach who works in Texas at a National School of Character, and like me, she is PASSIONATE about the power of stories! One of her blogs, The Corner on Character 
showcases people and experiences that make the world a better place - what a great way to teach children (and their parents) to look for the good in those they meet, and to discover what Elizabeth Barrett Browning said, "all of earth is crammed with Heaven."  That's what I love about writing for children - I get to  rummage around my day, looking  for that little piece of Heaven that I can write about!  And, it seems to me that Barbara is doing the same thing!

Thank you, Barbara, for all you do to encourage teachers and children how to find the "King" in one another and how to live Ghandi's words - "BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD."

"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." Aesop

 And as if Barbara and I did not have enough in common, I have just found out that like me, she too is.....
A KNITTER!  (more on that later!)

How we measure - let us count the ways!

 As the new school year rolls around again, my thoughts are turning toward our culture's obsession with measuring. My book, Magnus Maximus a Marvelous Measurer was, in part, inspired by my experience of coming to live in America.

 I once heard William Trevor tell an interviewer that he attributed his success as an author, in part, to always being an “other.”  (Trevor was that rarest of breeds - a Protestant who grew up in the Republic of Ireland.)  Being an “other,” Trevor explained, meant that he often found himself on the edge of the surrounding community, peering in and noticing much that those on the inside took for granted.  In many ways, Magnus Maximus stemmed from my “otherness.”  When I first arrived in the States from my native Scotland, I felt as if I had landed in the middle of the Guiness Book of World Records.  Every strata of society, it seemed, had succumbed to the seduction of the measuring tape, the latest Gallup poll, the NASDAQ, or the standardized test. Healthcare, government, finance, leisure, education, sports, food, entertainment – all of them had been sucked into this roiling whirlpool of measuring, comparing, contrasting, labeling, analyzing, and quantifying, all the better to discover who or what is better, faster, thinner, or healthiest, smartest, richest – ad infinitum.  There also  seemed to be a national penchant for slapping a number on a person, be it SSN, PIN, Telephone, Driver’s License, or the almighty ZIP!  And without the requisite number, you were considered a nonentity, as I discovered from years of living as a resident alien whose social security number was not etched into my memory bank.  

In addition to living in such a measuring-obsessed society, I was also married to a consummate measurer.  Over the years my husband’s preoccupation with comparing, counting, analyzing, and competing, at turns delighted, perplexed, flummoxed, infuriated, befuddled, amused, infuriated, and -  ultimately -  inspired me to write my story. 

 What fun it was to write about a dear old man who counts all kinds of extraordinary things....like measles on a tummy, or freckles on a nose....

and then measures all kinds of Nesses and Ests.....like the wobbliness of a jellyfish and the itchiness of an itch...

 only to discover...that "life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of breaths that take our breath away." (anon)

 It seems to me that these breathtaking moments are indeed the stuff of stories and songs and poems.  They are why artists paint, musicians make music, dancers dance, and writers write.  They are all that we have forsaken in our measuring spree.   And the irony....they provide the antidote to our wordly woes, to the gloom and doom that stretches from stock market to the playground.  

At day's end, instead of counting our net worth, or toting up our losses, we can count our blessings and ask ourselves what bolt of beauty, what whiff of wonder took our breath away today.

So as we start another school year, we will of course be focused on teaching our children to MEASURE, for measuring is a very good thing....in moderation, and as long as we take some time to pause and ponder, sense our smallness in the vastness, marvel in our mystery, cherish the gift of life that is precious beyond meausure, and realize the truth of what that other "marvelous measurer," Einstein, once said...

  "Not everything that counts can be measured. Not everything that can be measured counts." 

And for some fun measuring and language arts activities to complement your reading of Magnus, download the activity guide here.

Words that inspire

Often people will ask me if I have a favorite quote to turn to when the rejection blues get to me, and I suppose if I had to pick only one, it would be this - a little magnet that I keep in my kitchen.

"Show me a day when the world wasn't new." Sister Barbara Hance

 

 

In this glutted picture book market, it is easy to fall prey to the demons of self-doubt and despair.  Sometimes I do question if the world really needs one more book, or I despair of ever finding an editor who will take my next story. “What’s the point?” I ask myself, “It’s all been done before.  There really is nothing new under the sun.”

  But this picture of a little boy’s face all aglow with wonder and awe always boosts my flagging spirits, rekindles my childlike wonder at the world, and inspires me to try and see with fresh eyes and a child’s innocence, so that maybe I will find some glimpse of beauty, some glimmer of hope that will blossom into a new story – then I pick up my pencil and paper and begin…again…