Secret Ninja Tools
Deadly fingernail weapons, known as neko-te. (A more modern and fashionable version than a 16th century ninja would have had accessed to.)
If you’re a ninja, you might need to blind an enemy (at least temporarily), cross a swamp, or turn your hairpin into a deadly weapon. Check out this website to discover some of the tools you might have used! I haven’t encountered all of these in my research, but they sound at least plausible. And I might have to use the thing about the crickets in a book someday….
Read MoreTengu
Statue of a tengu from the late Edo period. Photo by WolfgangMichel.
With the launch of Deadly Flowers, my girl-ninja-Japanese-folklore-adventure-fantasy novel coming up (on sale in April, y’all!) and a sequel at 249 handwritten pages as of this morning (take that, writer’s block), all of the creatures and ghosts and monsters of Japanese folklore have been haunting my mind. So I thought I’d introduce you to a few of them. Today’s special guest: the tengu.
Half-crow, half human, tengu tend to inhabit dense forests and remote mountains. They’re fierce but not evil, mischievous but not cruel. If they decide that they like you (which doesn’t happen very often) they may be induced to teach you martial arts. Some of Japans’ greatest heroes got their skills this way. If they don’t like you…well, best to stay out of their way.
Read More“Edge-of-your-seat action!”
Here’s what Kirkus Reviews says about Deadly Flowers:
Read MoreA girl’s first mission as a ninja is complicated by a pair of young siblings and dangerous Japanese spirits. Orphaned at a young age, Kata has been trained to be a “deadly flower”—a female ninja in feudal Japan. She is the best trainee at Madame Chiyome’s secret school. Kata is eager to prove herself on her first mission, only to realize that she must assassinate Ichiro, a little boy and heir of a powerful lord. His 15-year-old sister, Saiko, initially Kata’s accomplice, surprises her by thwarting the mission. Having failed her first mission, Kata’s honor forces her to help the siblings find their uncle. The plot is dense with detail and events. Ichiro hands Kata a small pearl for safekeeping but neglects to disclose its supernatural powers. Kata initially looks down on Saiko’s noble coyness but finds that Saiko’s skills have their uses on their journey. The three fight off demons, Madame’s ninjas, and a samurai’s legions. In Kata and Saiko, Thomson has created heroines who are opposites yet manage to use their strengths to take control of their lives under the social restraints of their time. Plot-driven moments feel like pauses in between the book’s heavy action scenes. Japanese spirits are described in frightfully vivid detail, along with the ninjas’ death-defying exploits. Edge-of-your-seat action that will have both girls and boys rooting for the girl ninjas. (Historical fantasy. 10-14)
New Reviews for QUICK, LITTLE MONKEY!
Quick, Little Monkey! (on shelves in March 2016) got two lovely reviews last week!
Kirkus Reviews says:
Clinging to her father’s back, Little Monkey travels safely across jungle treetops until one day she’s distracted and tumbles downward to the dark forest floor, where hungry predators lurk. Rhythmic text describes how Little Monkey loves “to fly” from “vine to vine” and “branch to branch,” holding tightly to her Papa’s fur as he carries her “high and safe and quick in the bright, loud, green world.” When Papa warns Little Monkey to hide on a tree branch and stay still, she can’t resist reaching out for a butterfly and slips “down into a quiet dark.” Remembering Papa’s advice to hide, keep still, and hold tight, Little Monkey barely escapes a menacing ocelot by climbing up to a “coiled and curved” vine that turns out to be a sinister boa. Fortunately, Papa arrives in the nick of time. Bold pencil lines, atmospheric watercolor washes in bright greens, browns, and yellows, and double-page spreads of Little Monkey’s vertical descent and Papa’s horizontal flights perfectly convey the drama and energy of jungle life. Exaggerated close-ups of Little Monkey’s face capture her range of emotions, from exuberant joy as she rides on Papa’s back to paralyzing terror as she faces the unknown. Exciting jungle high jinks starring one adorable little monkey and her protective Papa.
And Publishers Weekly says:
As a baby pygmy marmoset rides on her father’s back, he shows her how to “read” the jungle landscape for predators—the shadow of wings above, the sound of “soft footsteps” on the ground below—and to stay safe. “Hide here” Papa tells her. “Keep still.” When Little Monkey can’t resist reaching for a butterfly, she tumbles away from Papa, “down into a quiet dark of slow roots and still earth and cold shadow,” and into some very dangerous territory. But Little Monkey remembers her lessons and manages to make her way back to Papa. The wide-eyed primate heroine is cute and plucky, and Judge’s ( Good Morning to Me! ) woodsy-toned watercolors create moments of high drama by playing up the difference in scale between the tiny marmoset and the rest of the world (in one scene, she’s dwarfed by the huge eyes of a hungry ocelot)…. It’s an evocative story of survival of the itty-bittiest. Ages 3–7.
An early Christmas present to a happy author!
Read MoreTalking (Not Writing)
A while back, I was listening to a great Maine Calling show on MBPN, about public speaking and how to do it well. Writers can’t just shut ourselves up in our writing caves and type; some days we actually have to get out there and speak to people about our work.
For my fellow writers and anybody who has to get up in front of people and (gasp!) talk, here are some things I’m learning:
- Don’t start with an apology (“I have a cold, please excuse me”), a summary (“So I’m going to talk to you today about…”) or a greeting/intro (“Hi, I’m Sarah.”). Start with a statement or a question. Give them something substantial.
- Don’t be afraid of silence. Pause between sentences and thoughts. It conveys authority and confidence. Rushing to fill up silence conveys nervousness.
- Look at people’s ears. You will engage them without making them feel stared at.
- Nervous energy wants to leave your body. Standing still and talking is hard. If you want to move, move–just do it deliberately, as if you meant to.
- Nobody wants you to fail. The audience is eager to be interested in what you say, because otherwise they are going to be bored. They want you to be good. They’re not mean. Try not to be scared of them.
And a couple of my own:
- Give yourself permission to bore one or two people. You won’t and can’t catch everybody with every speech.
- Practice, practice, practice. Then you’ll be able to say whatever it is even when you’re nervous.
- AND MY OWN PERSONAL, FAVORITE, ALL-IMPORTANT TIP OF ALL TIME: Never be afraid to be short. People will love you for it.
Read More
Get Your Author Out of the Library
I recently visited the AASL (American Association of School Librarians) at their National Convention in Columbus Ohio, which is a far hipper town than you think. For one thing, they have this car driving around downtown! Look closely and you’ll see that, yes, those are Babie doll legs sticking up from the top.
At the AASL, I regaled the librarians with advice gleaned from 10 years of coming to schools as a visiting author. Would you like to hear some of the gems?
1) Convey enthusiasm. Talk about your author visit as if it is going to be a blast, with everybody from students to principal to teachers to custodian. The excitement spreads out from you.
2) Share information. From early on, tell your staff, your teachers, and your students who will be coming, why you chose her, and why she’s cool.
3) Get the books. Buy them, borrow them, steal them if you have to, but make sure each kid reads at least one book.
4) Make your students into hosts. Rather than telling them, “We’re going to do something amazing for you,” tell them, “Something amazing is happening at our school and we need your help.” Recruit them to make displays, greet the author, guide her to the library, write an article about her for the school newsletter–anything that turns them into active participants.
5) Tell your author where to park. Please. I can’t be the only author in the world who finds the layout of schools and their associated parking lots bewildering.
More tips to come later….
Read MoreSo Why Do You Write for Kids?
The author at one and a half–in Iowa, just like Bill Bryson
People ask this a lot, and sometimes it’s hard to find a better answer than, “Um….because I like to.” The truth is that kid’s book are my favorite kind of literature–direct, unpretentious, powerful, concise, beautiful, varied, exciting, and fascinating. Honestly, I can’t figure out why all these authors write books for boring adults. But I am too polite to say this (most of the time).
Sometimes somebody else says it better. Bill Bryson, for one. This is how he answered an interview question inquiring why he wrote a memoir of Iowa childhood. “All childhoods are really very, very interesting and also very, very funny. And I think it’s a strange thing that we have this intensely felt period of our lives, you know, twenty years or so of really really strongly felt experiences, and then we get to be grownup and we forget all about it. It seems to me that childhood is actually the most important part of your life, the part where, really, you have all your strongest feelings and all of your most vivid experiences, and I wanted to write about that.”
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