The Elephant Keeper

I am happy to share a new book with you that has been long in the making.

In 2014 I was lucky enough to travel to Zambia. There, I visited an elephant orphanage and learned much about how hard people work to help save an endangered species.

Elephants are in danger of illegal poaching. Because there are still countries in the world where people wants trinkets made from ivory, there are still poachers willing to kill these majestic animals.

When a mother elephant is killed, usually for her tusks, her baby elephant is left to die. Without her nursing and nurturing, the infant is not able to care for itself yet. In Zambia, Game Rangers International has trained staff that will rescue and transport the baby elephant.

The staff at Lilayi Elephant Orphanage have developed a milk formula and other pertinent care that gives the orphaned elephant a fighting chance.

Zambezi came to the orphanage at a young age after he was founded nearly drowning in a resort's pool near the Zambezi River in southern Zambia.

Aaron is the caretaker who was offered a job after rescuing Zambezi. To him, elephants had been the enemy that destroys crops in his village. But Aaron learned to care for elephants, to respect and to love them. Now he is a valuable caretaker who spends most of his waking hours with his little charges.

The elephants live in the protected forest and compound near Lusaka, until they are old enough to be released into the wild. They learn to forage and to act as elephants and form new family bonds with other orphaned elephants. They will live out their lives in the protected woods of

 Kafue National Park.

Find out how you can help - not only by making sure you never buy anything made from ivory, but also by "adopting" a baby elephant. The $65.- US will pay for the elephant' food, milk, medicine and upkeep. What better gift for a child's birthday or a friend's Christmas gift than a baby elephant! You will receive photos and regular email updates!

http://gamerangersinternational.org/index.php/adopt-an-elephant/

KIDS CAN PRESS/Citizen Kid Series

978-1-77138-561-9 | Oct 3, 2017

List Price: USD $18.99, CAD $19.99

4-color  8 x 10 48 pages

Grades: 3 To 7 / Ages: 8 to 12

REVIEWS

“A moving and unforgettable true story ...”

— Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review, August 2017

“... Ruurs's narrative builds a strong emotional connection between readers and the subject---this is a tale designed to pull at the heartstrings of readers.”

— School Library Journal, September 2017

Canadian Teacher Magazine

For each issue of Canadian Teacher Magazine, I contribute a column called Can Write. The column features a Canadian writer or illustrator of children's books.
I love the opportunity to interview, and learn more about, writers from across the country and beyond. The stories of how they became writers, or illustrators, are always fascinating and inspiring. It's fun to hear the 'stories behind the stories' - what triggered a picturebook or how they ended up writing a novel.

Here's the current issue: http://canadianteachermagazine.com/articles/literacy/CTM_2014_linda_bailey.pdf

and you can go through the archives to read past columns.
Happy reading!

Book Review: The Other Author Arthur

The Other Author Arthur, by Sheree Fitch

It might be because I love word play that I like this early reader so much. How brilliant is it to come up with this idea: an author named Arthur is about to visit an elementary school. The children are all excited.

The author, however, wished he could spend the day writing.

Meanwhile, a furnace repair man also named Arthur would love nothing better but to share stories with the students.

Everyone is happy when the two Arthurs are accidently switched, allowing one to tell stories and the other one to write in the furnace room!

 

This comedy of errors and mistaken identity brings a day of great stories for the children. Writing, telling our own stories, and the family feel of a small elementary school are themes beneath this farcical adventure. Grades 2-4. I hope, for your sake, that it is still in print.

A children's chapter book illustrated by Jill Quinn.

Pottersfield Press, now distributed by Nimbus

ISBN-10 1-895900-20-4

Author’s website: http://www.shereefitch.com/

Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner

Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner





This book is a classic by now. How did such a thin little book become both a classic bestseller as well as a major motion picture?
Because it is a good story! A heart string pulling, tear jerking good tale.

Little Willy's grandfather is sick, and it's up to Willy to save their farm from tax collectors. Their only hope is the prize money from the National Dogsled Race. But a lot of other people want to win the race, too, including Stone Fox, who has never lost a race in his life.
Do Willy and his dog Searchlight stand a chance against the toughest racers around? Can they win the race to save the farm -- and Grandfather -- before it's too late?

I was lucky to have met the author, John Gardiner. He seemed a very kind man and was supportive of me as a fellow writer. We had a great chat about the struggles of writing, editing and rewriting. He showed me his first original manuscript. The paper was covered in red. It seems that every single word of it had been crossed out and edited. "I am dyslexic. I couldn't write at all...", he said.
I was in awe that his story had gone on to do so well.

Then, to my utter surprise, a few weeks later I received the Dutch version of Stone Fox in the mail. "I can't read it anyway so you enjoy!" he said.
And enjoy Stone Fox I have! A book that every teacher and parent should read aloud with their children.




Lesson Plans: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/stone-fox-lesson-plan

Book Lists Galore!

http://www.npr.org/2013/08/05/207315023/the-ultimate-backseat-bookshelf-100-must-reads-for-kids-9-14?utm_source&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=20130802

Looking for some good books to put into the hands of a young reader, or your own for that matter? Better yet, read these books aloud with them!
Add some Canadian books from this site:
http://www.bookcentre.ca/publications/best_books_for_kids_and_teens

Then check out some international books from IBBY's BookBird magazine here: http://www.ibby.org/index.php?id=1035

and you will have one heck of a list from which to pick your books!
Happy reading.

Pick One and Finish the Story

Pick one of these story starters and finish writing the story!

• 'Jason knew he shouldn’t be waiting for Greg. He knew that the bell was about to ring. Mrs. Jackson would be mad if he came in late. But he just had to find out why Greg had gone into that alley. And why hadn’t he come back yet?...'

• '“Stacey Jacobs!” The teacher’s voice was loud. Stacey startled out of her day dream and back into the classroom. She had no idea what he had asked her but all the children were staring at her. She took a deep breath and said...'

• 'The dog came out of nowhere. It ran across the square, in between two parked cars and then straight toward me. I didn’t know what to do. If I didn’t pretend this was my dog, the cops would catch it and take it to the S.P.C.A. And then what would happen to him? So I didn’t think much, I just...'


After you write the first draft, do what all writers do: read your story and rewrite it.

Lose the Rhyme!

Take your poem from a few days ago.
Retell the story in short, poetic sentences but lose the rhyme!
Don't worry about find words that rhyme but do see if you can use some aliteration.
Use humor.
Use short,  snappy lines.

Which format tells a better story?
Which version do you like best?

While I like rhyming poems, I love free verse. Free verse is a story told in poetic, often short, sentences that do not rhyme.

Some of my favorite free verse novels include:
Out of the Dust, Karen Hesse
Love That Dogs, Sharon Creech
May B, Caroline Starr Rose
The Dancing Pancake, Eileen Spinelli

Free Fall Writing

Today, take a sheet of paper and a pen to a comfortable spot: the table, your desk, a lawn chair, anywhere.

Then spend FIVE minutes writing free fall.
This means ANYTHING that comes up in your head. Just write for the sake of writing. Don't try to think of a character, or a setting, or a description. Just write what comes to mind. Even if it is "I don't know what the heck I'm writing..."

Free fall writing helps to clear your mind, helps to bring new ideas to light. It will make writing easier than when you always try to write with a clear idea in mind. It is even used as therapy. Google 'free fall writing' and you will find many websites and books devoted to the topic.

Try it.
If you like it, do it again tomorrow. Just five minutes.
After a few days, make it ten minutes. Pretty soon, your free fall writing might take a shape, show you a pattern. But don't look for it soon.
Just write. Anything that comes to mind, without taking your pen off the paper!

Rhyme for a Reason

Read several books of great poems for kids:
• any title by Jack Prelutsky
• Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
• a Dr. Seuss book. Look up poetry books by Bruce Lansky, David Greenberg, Kenn Nesbitt (http://www.poetry4kids.com/)

• Read poetry books by Sheree Fitch and Loris Lesynski!!

• Read The Party and Two by Two, by Barbara Reid!

Now write a poem about a boy who did not do his homework.
Make up wild and funny excuses.
Use rhyme.
aa, bb.
Or a, b, a, b.

Yak-a-dee-yak

Use dialogue to create a believable character.
An adult sounds different from a four year old. A teen speaks different from a senior. And a trucker may sound different from a lady selling yarns. Select one of the following dialogue exercises, or do them all!

• Write a page of dialogue between a man working in the hardware store and an elderly lady who comes in looking for a tool.

• Write a page of dialogue between a pilot and air traffic control. Make it exciting.

• Write a page of dialogue between six year old Anna and her friend Michael. They are in the backyard. Show me, through their dialogue, what is happening.

Which children's books have great dialogue? Read a Clementine book, and a book by Wendy Maas.

Paint Pictures

Several of my picturebooks won children's choice awards selected by blind kids. That helped me enormously to realize that text has to work without art. As writers we have to paint pictures in the reader's head with words.

Describe an object. Pick a flower, a puppy, a doll, the house across the street, a pine cone, anything. Describe it in detail for yourself on paper. Note its color, shape, size, texture. Now feel it. Describe how it feels. Or listen to any sounds and add them to your description.

Did you write half a page, a full page of description?
Now try to sum this all up by painting a picture of it. What does it compare to? Use a few poetic words instead of the long tedious paragraph.

In my book Emma's Eggs I did not describe the chick yellow, round, fluffy, soft, etc. But after making this list I compared her and called her "a dandelion chick". Does such a comparison work for your description?

Show me what it FEELS like.

Show, don't tell. Here's a writing activity to help you do that in a children's story:

• Don't tell me that Nathan is angry. Show me.

• Don't say "Madeleine is sad." Show me.

• Justin is supposed to be sleeping but he is afraid. Show me why and how he feels.

All the Write Moves...

Having just spent an intense week at the Oregon Coast Children's Book Writers' Workshop (http://www.occbww.com/), I decided to write some posts aimed at helping (beginning) writers. Most of my blog has been aimed at fellow booklovers and reading. However, many of you might also enjoy doing some writing activities.

So, I will aim to put a new writing activity on this blog each day for the next month or so. Just a short one. Something aimed at helping you to write each day for the sake of practise. We'll look at description, voice, tense, dialogue and more. See how this fits into your day. Write for 5 minutes, if that's all you have. Or expand my short activity into an hour of writing for you. Do it as a stand-alone exercise or fit it into a piece you already have... Just write.

So, for today, here we go.
The golden rule we've all heard about: SHOW, don't tell.
Take me for a walk along the harbour. SHOW me what it looks like. Be sure to include the smells, sounds and feels of a harbour front on a... sunny day, or blustery day.