Hipple Collection of Young Adult Literature
A first draft pages from Deadly Wish. Am I the last writer alive to do first drafts longhand?
I was flattered and excited to be asked to donate signed copies and original manuscripts of Deadly Flowers and Deadly Wish to the Ted Hipple Collection of Young Adult Literature at the University of South Florida! My books will live on the shelves beside books by Judy Blume and S.E. Hinton, so you can see they’ll be in very good company.
I must confess I’m a little sad to give up the original first drafts, though. It’s funny–I save all my first drafts, although I don’t know why. I don’t look at them again. They just take up space. I don’t mind throwing away intermediate drafts, but those first, handwritten ones–they feel like part of me. I’m surprised by how much of a wrench it feels to send them away. Like sending a kid off to college, I imagine. You always hoped they’d get there, but they’re not all yours anymore. Time to see what they can offer the world!
Read MoreTalking about The Eureka Key at Victor Intermediate
This week I visited Victor Intermediate School in Victor, NY, a lovely little hamlet near Rochester. What made it super exciting to me was that this school had picked The Eureka Key for a community read. It was my first time (as far as I know) to be read by an entire school (of 1100 kids, no less).
Now normally I’m in a favor of a LOT of choice when it comes to reading. We’re not all the same as readers; let’s let the nonfiction kids read about dinosaurs and the fantasy kids read about dragons and the sensitive kids read tearjerkers. It’s all reading! It’s all good!
But I have to admit to a certain thrill in having a shared experience of reading every now and then. It was part of what made the Harry Potter phenomenon so fun. It wasn’t that they were the best books in the world (not the worst, either). It was the joy of sharing Hogwarts with so many other people. With your friends and classmates and strangers you met on the bus. It brought the fictional world into real life, joined us together into a community who shared our imaginary lives. It was lovely.
I felt a little bit of that in the school today. The kids were so excited to see me and so eager to take in what I had to share about writing and so excited to do some writing themselves. And sharing the book with the whole school, kids and teachers and families and all, was what built that excitement.
I signed A LOT of books!
Everybody made their own “Eureka Keys” with terms describing themselves–the keys to their personalities!
What I’ve Been Reading
If you get bold enough to read 1984, of course you’ve got to follow it up with Brave New World. Which I must say I liked significantly less.
I get Huxley’s point, I really do, warning us that human beings don’t need a totalitarian system to crush the our spirit into sand….we can entertain ourselves into dumbness and passivity and inert happiness. Can’t argue with that. But the sour and savage distaste for the female body in this book–either as a voluptuous, pneumatic instrument of seduction and promiscuity and more of that mindless pleasure that’s going to ruin us all, or as a fat (horrors!), filthy, weak, flabby embodiment (literally) of mortality and corruption–well, that made it hard to appreciate the savage satiric genius. I could see that the genius was there, but I couldn’t much enjoy it.
And it’s not just the body, it’s the human spirit that is rendered disgusting in Huxley’s antiseptically clean prose. 1984 made me feel that the humanity was at risk, but still precious. Brave New World made me feel that the human spirit wasn’t worth the struggle. Might as will take a gram of soma and go to the feelies and watch it disintegrate.
Read MoreWhat I’ve Been Reading
The remarkable Love and First Sight by Josh Sundquist. Will Porter, blind since birth, experiences sight for the first time after a corneal transplant. Wonderful, right? A miracle of modern medicine, right? Not exactly.
The ending is a bit rushed, which is a real shame, because the book up until this is a fascinating and entertaining musing on honesty, beauty, and the many different types of perception. Sharp, funny, not in the least sentimental, and guaranteed to make you think.
Read MoreThe Man, His Work, and Its Impact–The Dr. Seuss Controversy
Not one of Dr. Seuss’s finer moments. He did get better.
Maybe you’re not up on what’s going on with Dr. Seuss? For details of the current controversy, check out this and this.
I was going to post my thoughts, but I have to take a back seat to Grace Lin here: she says everything that needs to be said, thoughtfully and wisely and eloquently.
A few highlights:
We know that Dr. Seuss’s early career is filled with creations of racist propaganda. He drew horrible stereotypes against Jews, African-Americans–you name it…. However, as time passed, Geisel began to regret his earlier images. It is widely accepted that his beloved book, “Horton Hears a Who!” was his way of apologizing for his earlier art….That is what makes Geisel a good man and artist. Because he was willing to grow from his original mindset, realize the harm the his work could do and get better.
No artist deserves to be judged and dismissed on the basis of one work or one image. No artist gets to be judged and idolized only on the works he or she would prefer to be selected.
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Ninjas in the Library
We had an awesome Deadly Flowers event at the Portland Public Library last Saturday! Our fearless and stealthy readers hunted for clues in the stacks (learning just a tad about the Dewey Decimal system in the process), figured out a rope puzzle (not easy!) and practiced sneaking up silently on a blindfolded partner (no peeking!). And of course many left with signed copies of Deadly Flowers and the brand-new Deadly Wish.
All this was courtesy of the excellent game kit created by the brilliant Kirsten Cappy of Curious City. To recreate this event, download the kit and buy yourself a few dozen Japanese Kit-Kats for snack (we had them in raspberry, strawberry, and green tea flavors). I guarantee you an adventurous event!
Read MoreNinjas In the Stacks!
Beware the library ninja!
Don’t forget to drop by the main branch of the Portland Public Library this Saturday, 10/14, at 2:00, for an adventurous event to celebrate the launch of Deadly Wish. There will be a stealthy scavenger hunt through the stacks, ninja tattoos, Japanese snacks (green tea Kit Kats! Really!), and signed copies of Deadly Wish to purchase.
(Drop by the exhibit of art by Maine treasure Dahlov Ipcar while you are here. Gorgeous art in pop-off-the-wall color!)
Read MoreSarah L. Thomson
A children’s book author publishing award-winning nonfiction, poetry, picture books and novels including…
“Thomson focuses on newfound connection, magic, and suspense to conjure a fast-paced, heartwarming mystery. Thomson’s world is populated by resourceful protagonists, fanciful creatures, and quirky supporting characters.”
—Publishers Weekly