Skype visit with Stephen McCranie

Today, my two language arts classes had an amazing visit with Stephen McCranie, the author/illustrator of the Mal and Chad graphic novel series.  What a fun time we had, and Stephen was a wonderful guest!

He gave some great writing advice:

• Every story should focus on two things: 1) what does my character want? and 2) what is getting in the way of the character getting what they want?  An easy formula for writers to follow.
• He shared that he will frequently write up to 14 or 15 drafts like a screenplay before he ever starts a sketch for the graphic novel.  I have a lot of students who want to sketch frequently during writing workshop; it was great for them to hear from this author that if you don't have a good, solid story, the pictures won't matter.
• Stephen said it is easier to rewrite words online than "rewrite" pictures.
• He stressed how important editing is in his process.
• One of my favorite lines: he told the classes that creativity is a muscle you make stronger by practice.  What great advice for those students who don't feel like they have any creativity - they can work to achieve that creativity. 

Stephen designs his drawings with a special computer program, and he was able to screen share it with us in real time.  Based on his formula, he asked for the students to give him a character - they chose MaryLou.  They decided that MaryLou liked a boy named Bob, but that she was jealous of another girl, Priscilla.  As the students fed him the details for the story, he sketched it all out for them - it was so impressive to have him talking, answering questions, and drawing at the same time.

And if the Skype visit wasn't enough, Stephen also sent us a signed copy of everything he drew today so I can copy it for the kids AND he sent the first few chapters of the next Mal and Chad graphic novel.  What a wonderful experience!!  A huge thank you to Stephen McCranie for his generosity of time, talent, and writing wisdom!!

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? - April 23

My goal is to participate in this challenge (hosted by Kellee and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts) on a regular basis.   I love the idea of being an active contributing member of this reading community. Thanks so much to all of you for sharing your reading lives with me.

This entire week, I read hardly anything, and then the weekend came, and I managed to get several books read, and really enjoyed all of them.

First off, I read Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It: False Apology Poems by Gail Carson Levine.  I chuckled my way through the entire book and all the poems.  It was fun connecting poems with their original literary context, and it was also quite amusing that Levine played with the sequencing of the book as well.  As I read, it seemed to me that she must have had a blast writing these poems.  While I'm sure they were all hard work to get just the way she wanted them, Levine infused each poem with great humor.

Next came The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict by Trenton Lee Stewart.  I have enjoyed the Mysterious Benedict Society series, and this book was a prequel to that.  In it, the reader gets a behind the scenes look at the events that shaped Nicholas Benedict's life.  They are really quite telling of things to come.  I wrote in my GoodReads account that I originally picked this book up to have something that wouldn't take all my time and attention; I figured because of its length, it would take me awhile to finish.  Stewart does such a great job with the pacing of the story and the multiple plot lines, that I just couldn't put it down.

I've had the 2nd book in the Mal and Chad graphic novel series, Food Fight!, for a few weeks, but finally made time to read it.  It is very similar to the first book, and I know my students will love it.  On a personal note, I really wish the other kids in the book wouldn't be so unkind to Mal.  I noticed that it really bothered me this time.

My final book has a back story I'm embarrassed to admit: up until this weekend, I hadn't read any of the Swindle series by Gordon Korman.  My blog partner here, Bill, has read/reviewed each one of them, and for some reason, I was just not motivated to do so as well.  But I read Showoff (the 4th book in the series), and I enjoyed it immensely.  I am predicting that my students will get excited as I highlight these books now.  I am planning on rereading the three books that came before so I can get an understanding for the evolution of each character.  I enjoyed them all so much in this book.



I currently have no specific plans for reading this week, except I may be rereading Divergent to prepare for Insurgent's release next week on May 1.  Hope everyone has a great week of reading!

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? - April 9

My goal is to participate in this challenge (hosted by Kellee and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts) on a pretty regular basis.  I know that as I've dropped in and read some of the blogs others have written about what they're reading, I get some great ideas for where I can go next with my own reading.  And this weekend was full of great reading, so here we go!!

I started the long weekend (we weren't in school Friday) by finishing an ARC of Remarkable.  What a delightful book that was.  I loved the concept of a young girl who was surrounded by gifted parents, siblings, acquaintances, and townsfolk.  The big message of this book was that we all have gifts to offer to the world, regardless of how inconsequential -- important message for our students to hear.

On Friday afternoon, I visited my favorite children's bookstore, Cover to Cover.  While there I bought this wonderful stack of books:

books from Cover to Cover

Some of these books were "destination books" -- they were the reason I traveled to Cover to Cover.  Others, like Take Me With You and Kindred Souls, were purchased on the great advice of Beth, one of the incredibly knowledgeable women who work at Cover to Cover.

From Friday evening to Sunday evening, I was able to finish Fake Mustache, Humming Room, Take Me With You, and almost finish Kindred Souls.  What a great weekend of reading!


Fake Mustache by Tom Angleberger was a hoot from start to finish.  While I have thoroughly enjoyed his Origami Yoda books, I enjoyed this one even more. 

Take Me With You is a story set in Italy and revolves around the two main characters just wanting to belong to their family or be adopted by a family who would want them.  The idea of belonging is a key component to this book. 

Kindred Souls is the latest book by Patricia MacLachlan.  I love how slowly she moves her plot and action so we can appreciate both the setting and the characters.  Another tear jerker for me.  But a great book because the language is accessible for many abilities. 

Humming Room by Ellen Potter was another great recommendation from a tweep.  I love Ellen Potter; I currently have many children reading SLOB.  The parallels between The Secret Garden and the Humming Room might be a great bridge to get students into a classic like that.


I'm so excited to be part of the Monday group!  See you all next week!