Category: Literacy

2010 Writing for Charity

If I was a better blogger, you would already know about the 2010 Writing for Charity event.  And unfortunately, this is not a case of better-late-than-never, because you really don’t want to miss this.  It’s coming up this Saturday, on August 21.

Last year, I participated in the Writing for Charity event held at the Treehouse Museum in Ogden, Utah, and it was a great experience.  The atmosphere was so fun and congenial and supportive for everyone involved.  This year won’t be any different.

As with last year, there will be panels organized by genre (picture book, contemporary, fantasy, etc.), followed by mini workshops where aspiring writers will have the opportunity to have their work critiqued by a nationally published author.  Lunch will be provided, and the conference will last most of the day.  But this year, they’ve added an awesome evening extravaganza.  In addition to music and improv comedy, authors Brandon Mull, Shannon Hale, Brandon Sanderson, Sara Zarr, Ally Condie, James Dashner, Bree Despain, and Jessica Day George will be on a panel taking audience questions and being thoroughly entertaining.  You can attend one or both events.

And here’s the thing.  As with previous Writing for Charity events, all procedes go to charitable causes.  All the writers involved have donated their time, which is an amazing thing and shows how wonderful our Utah writers are.  This year, the event is focusing on putting books in the hands of kids.  For every conference registration fee received, an entire class in an under-priveleged school will receive books.  That’s right.  Not only can you have a great time and learn a lot at the conference, but you’ll also know that you have provided each child in a classroom with a book of their own.

There is also a silent auction going on to raise even more money for charity.  Lots of great items have been donated, but I wanted to tell you about one in particular.  My agent, Stephen Fraser, has graciously donated a 10-page critique of a manuscript.  Ten whole pages critiqued by a literary agent.  You should know that before he became an agent, Steve worked as an editor at such publishing houses as Scholastic, Simon and Schuster, and HarperCollins.  So a critique from him truly is an opportunity.

You can register for the event online here.  You can also just come to the event and register that day.

And check out the silent auction here, which also includes items such as a lunch with Brandon Mull, being fictionally murdered in Dan Well’s next novel, or being publicly extolled and raved about on Shannon Hales’ blog.  Tell me that’s not cool.

5 Comments by Matthew on August 19, 2010
filed in Literacy, Writing

The King’s English Book Group

Last week I went to a book group at The King’s English in Salt Lake City.  I’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating over and over that The King’s English is a wonderful bookstore.  I wish I lived closer to Salt Lake because I would love to browse and shop there more than I am able to.

The book group consisted of over 30 young readers who had been given an ARC of The Clockwork Three, and what an amazing group they were.

I was so impressed by their insights, their perspectives, and how articulately they shared their thoughts.  It’s energizing to be around people who love to read, who find books exciting and magical.  The enthusiasm in those young readers was infectious, and a part of me didn’t really care what book they were talking about.  It was just inspiring to see them so engaged in reading.  Of course, an even bigger part of me was thrilled by the fact that they were talking about my book.

Up to this point, those who have read The Clockwork Three have been mostly adults, so I was a little nervous going into a group of young readers.  They are, after all, my audience.  But it didn’t take long to settle in, and I was soon having a blast.  The feedback I received felt really good.  They enjoyed the book, which made me very, very happy.  Of course, they didn’t pull any punches when it came to things they didn’t agree with, or didn’t like, and I really appreciate and respect that.  But overall the response was very positive.

I spent a lot of time answering their questions, and then I asked a few of my own.  Which character was their favorite?  What was their favorite scene?  And a few others that would be a little too spoilerish to mention.  We spent about an hour discussing the book, and then I signed all of their ARCs.

It was a wonderful experience.  I owe a big thank you to Anne and Margaret of The King’s English, and also Chris, our Scholastic sales rep.  They put together a great event.

5 Comments by Matthew on June 23, 2010
filed in Books, Literacy, The Clockwork Three, Writing

New York City

Next week, my publisher is flying me to New York City.  While I’m there, The Book Fairs will be filming me for some promo things that I’ll be able to talk more about at a later time.  I’ll also be doing some recording for the audiobook of The Clockwork Three.  The audio producers are adding some cool “bonus” content to the CDs, and they want me to read an introduction for it.  And I’ll be able to visit the Scholastic offices, and most importantly, meet my editor for the first time.  I’m way excited about the whole thing, and I’ll post some pictures when I get back.

But speaking of Scholastic, the company’s CEO, Dick Robinson, recently delivered a speech at the 2010 Bologna Children’s Book Fair.  It has been described as a “call to arms,” and I love what he had to say about children’s literacy in the 21st century.  It made me proud to be a Scholastic author. 

Some of my favorite quotes:

- We believe that literature and drama, whether in printed pages, screens, on stage or film, help young people experience the great stories of emotion and action, leading to a deeper understanding of what it means to be truly human.

- We believe that the massive amounts of digital information and images now transmitted daily make it even more important for a young person to know how to analyze, interpret and understand information, to separate fact from opinion, and to have deep respect for logical thinking.

- We believe every child should know how to connect to the great stories of character and feeling which drives all human behavior. Without this heritage, life lacks meaning, coherence, understanding and soul.

I agree with these statements, along with pretty much everything else he had to say.  I think stories have a profound place in our lives.  I think we’re all engaged in acts of storytelling, maybe more often than we realize and perhaps, at times, even without our awareness.  My newest novel, the one I just finished and sent off to my editor and agent, is really a story about story, and in it I tried to explore the ways we use story to organize and give our lives meaning.   

Here’s the video of the speech, and here’s to you, Mr. Robinson.[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uDCD7GDFvI[/youtube]

Full text of the speech available here.

1 Comment by Matthew on April 3, 2010
filed in Books, Literacy, Writing

LeVar Burton

Neal Conan recently interviewed the actor and former host of Reading Rainbow for Talk of the Nation on NPR.  I really enjoyed their conversation, and loved what Mr. Burton had to say about the role of reading in the lives of children, and the mission of the show.  This quote summed it up nicely:

“Sesame Street was on the air and already doing the teaching of the rudiments of reading – phonics and the beginning of spelling and cracking the code. Reading Rainbow was about the passion. The idea for Reading Rainbow was to be there during the time of the child’s developmental cycle when they’re making that decision that every human being makes at one point in life or another. That decision being, will I be a reader or not.”

Here is the whole 17-minute interview, if you want to listen to it:



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No Comments by Matthew on September 10, 2009
filed in Books, Literacy

Writing for Charity

A little while ago, I posted about the Writing for Charity Event at the Treehouse Children’s Museum in Ogden, Utah.  I was invited to take part in the workshop as a debut author, and I think I was the “newest” writer at the event.  It also happened to be my first time participating in something like this as a presenter, rather than an attendee.  I didn’t really feel like there was much of a difference between me and the talented writers we were presenting to, but I had a wonderful time.

I got to participate in a big group panel, and then a smaller session with Emily Wing Smith, Sara Zarr, James Dashner, and Wendy Toliver.  After that, I guided a critique of first pages with several soon-to-be-published writers.  I was quite impressed with the quality of storytelling in those pages (like I said, not much difference between me and them).  I hope I said some helpful things.

As a fundraiser, the event was very successful.  The museum raised $8,000, which will be used to put books in the hands of kids, and Deseret Books donated a sizable portion of that.  As a workshop, the feedback from attendees was very positive.  The mood was light and supportive, and everywhere there was a real sense of community.

Some highlights:

1 – Getting a cool mini harmonica from the Treehouse Museum.  It’s what their volunteers wear.

2 – Being introduced by Shannon Hale.  Shannon Hale! (She’s one hilarious MC)

3 – Using a commonly accepted expression for bad first drafts, which contains a swear word, in front of a group of attendees, getting some laughter and also possibly scandalizing the grandmother of one attendee.

4 – Seeing my friend DaNae there, who bravely stepped out of her comfort zone and brought her picture book manuscript for critique.  Go DaNae!

5 – Assisting Brodi in reenacting the time a woman hit on her at the SCBWI conference in LA.  You see, Brodi was dancing at the Blue Moon Ball and… wait, you know what?  She tells it much better.

6 – Having dinner afterward with a group of writers I admire, and realizing that I’m pretty lucky to be a part of this community.

To cap things off, here’s a picture that was taken of all the presenters.

photo credit: Gailon Tucker

photo credit: Gailon Tucker

6 Comments by Matthew on September 4, 2009
filed in Literacy, Writing

No more butterflies in the sky…

Reading Rainbow is ending its 26-year run on public television.

What could be greater than a show whose purpose it was to promote reading and make it fun for kids?  I loved watching it when I was growing up, and I looked for those books I’d seen LeVar Burton introduce.  And it meant something to me to see kids my age talking about the books they loved.  I wanted to be one of those kids.  It’s a tragedy that the people in charge don’t see the value in that.

But, to quote LeVar Burton, “you don’t have to take my word for it.”  Just ask the many librarians and teachers who are struggling right now with how they can inspire children to read.

The article blames No Child Left Behind for the show’s cancellation, so I guess I’ll add this to the many reasons why I dislike that particular piece of legislation.  In the meantime, I’ll miss Reading Rainbow.  Even though I haven’t actually watched it in years, I truly appreciated that it was there, inspiring a new generation of readers.

2 Comments by Matthew on August 31, 2009
filed in Books, Literacy

Why History is Important

The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane YolenI was recently browsing in a book store, and couldn’t help overhearing the conversation between a mother and her teenage daughter right next to me.  The daughter was looking for a new book to read, and her mother was offering guidance on the titles she thought would interest her daughter.

The daughter picked up Jane Yolen’s The Devil’s Arithmetic.

That’s an amazing book, I thought to myself.

But when the teenager showed it to her mother, the woman said, “Oh…  Um, that’s about the Holocaust.”

The daughter looked down at the book.

“Do you know about the Holocaust?” the mother asked.

“No,” the daughter said.

“You don’t want to,” the mother said.  She took the book from her daughter’s hands and placed it back on the shelf.

I was speechless.  I may still be, but I’m going to attempt to gather my thoughts and respond to this experience here because it involves both history and literature, and those are two subjects I’m pretty passionate about.

History first.  I know that most everyone has heard the saying that “those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.”  But sadly, that’s become a white-noise aphorism in spite of that fact that it is very, very true.  Making sure that no one remembers the Holocaust is a precondition to perpetrating it, or something like it, again.

We cannot allow those events to be forgotten.  Understanding how Hitler was able to marshal an entire nation and incite such violence and hatred is critical if we are to safeguard our society against such men in the future.  Hitler’s genocidal campaign against the Jewish people and his war against Europe did not spring up overnight.  Those “final” atrocities represented the culmination of years of calculation, strategy, and propaganda.  The record of Hitler’s social, political, and military agenda offers us a thorough list or warning signs if we choose to look at it.  Averting our eyes from it because it is uncomfortable is simply not an option.  But that is exactly what the mother in the bookstore chose to do.

Night by Elie WiesellWhich brings to me literature.  One of the greatest books I read in high school was Night by Elie Wiesel.  In my English class, we were given a list of books to choose from and, unlike the mother in the book store, my parents encouraged me to read Night.  They took me to the bookstore and bought me my own copy.  Night became a defining book in my development, one of the greatest lessons I have ever received on the potential for evil in this world, and our potential to rise above it.

I must put aside the fact that a teenage girl did not know about the Holocaust (the failings of our education system could be the subject of innumerable blog posts).  What concerns me more was how her mother saw this very wide gap in her daughter’s knowledge of the world and chose not to fill it in, but to protect it.  And assuming the best intentions, that’s probably just what that mother thought she was doing – protecting her daughter.  She undoubtedly wanted to shelter her child from at least some of the ugliness and brutality that exist all around us.  But what would happen if an entire generation of children knew nothing of the Holocaust?  The irony, of course, is that The Devil’s Arithmetic is about a modern girl who is taken back in time to bear witness to the events of the Holocaust so they will not be forgotten.

Contrary to how it might sound, I am not saying that this mother should have bought Yolen’s book for her daughter.  It is a parent’s right to determine what their child is ready for.  I know I certainly would have made a different decision, like my parents did for me.  What better way to introduce the Holocaust to a teen than a YA novel written by one of our greatest living storytellers?  But that teenage girl is not my daughter.

What I am saying is this: that mother absolutely should have found a way to educate her child.  A different book perhaps, if she did not find The Devil’s Arithmetic appropriate for some reason.  But she should have done something.

I know from my own experience how enlightening books can be, especially in dealing with some of the harsher aspects of life.  The Holocaust was and is something so evil as to be incomprehensible to me, but Night helped me to at least partially grasp those events.  More importantly, Night helped me to understand what I could learn from those events without living through them, myself.  That is the power of books, and at times, the history they contain.

3 Comments by Matthew on June 24, 2009
filed in Books, History, Literacy

Reading as Virtual Reality

This is interesting.  Psychologists Nicole Speer and Jeffrey Zacks conducted a study of reading using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).  Basically, these researchers used imaging technology to look at what our brains are doing while we read a story.  They found that some of the same regions of the brain are active for the reader as would be active for someone actually experiencing the events in the text.  In other words, our brains create simulations of what we’re reading, a virtual reality of our own making.

Reading really can take you someplace else.  And it lets you experience something you otherwise might not.  In some cases (historical fiction, for example), a book is the closest we can get to the real thing.  This is something librarians and teachers have been telling young readers for a long time.  This is something familiar to anyone who has ever been brought to tears by a book, either of laughter or grief.  Anyone who has ever been brought to their feet by a character’s triumph and victory.  Anyone who has ever been reluctant to turn out the light and chills at strange noises in the dark.  This is something that anyone who reads can relate to.

These findings also suggest that reading about a fictional thing might actually prepare us for the real deal should we ever encounter it, providing evidence for how profound and transformative the experience of reading can be, perhaps even altering the structure of our brains in a manner similar to the way a real experience would.

Science has shown us that what we read really can become a part of who we are.

1 Comment by Matthew on February 2, 2009
filed in Books, Literacy

On Graphic Novels

rapunzels-revengeRecently, Shannon Hale wrote a blog entry on books with pictures.  In that entry, and in its follow-up, she argues against the idea that young readers eventually need to be weened from books with pictures in them, that it’s not a mark of maturity to no longer need the images to enjoy the story (in fact, the idea of “needing” pictures is missing the point entirely, but more on that in a moment).  She makes the case for graphic novels as legitimate and valuable sources of literature and literacy.  She and her husband did write one, after all.  I completely agree with her, and left a comment or two in her posts, but I wanted to expand a bit on those ideas here.

If you’ve recently wandered past the graphic novel section of your local bookstore or library, you may have noticed that it has grown.  A lot.  Sales of comics and other sequential art are climbing steadily, even in a book market trending downward.  Those who see comics as juvenile may be dismayed by that growth, but I’m all for it.  I enjoy reading graphic novels, and I’m fascinated by the potential and possibilities for storytelling in that medium.

And I think graphic novels are only going to get bigger (in popularity, not size).

Here’s why:

  • mausGraphic novels are gaining legitimacy as serious works of both art and literature.  They have been for some time.  I mean, Art Spiegelman’s Maus won the Pulitzer, for crying out loud.  While there are still plenty of immature comics out there, there are a lot of sophisticated, artistic, and meaningful works on the shelves.
  • I believe graphic novels compete better than “ye olde print” for readership in today’s media-saturated environment.  Blame TV.  Blame video games. Blame the internet.  Blame all of it if you like, but the fact is, kids growing up right now experience multi-sensory media on a daily basis, a constant stream of text, image, and sound.  And I think we can all agree that’s not changing any time soon, putting aside the question of whether or not it should.  Unlike a prose novel, graphic novels offer the reader a powerful multi-sensory combination of text and image.  (Yes, they both use vision, but they’re processed along different “channels” in the brain.)
  • Librarians and educators are getting on board.  From the linked article, I especially like the quote, “We’re a visual culture now, not a typographical culture… Comics teach visual literacy.”  The salient word for me there is “teach.”  We’re realizing we can use comics for instruction, and we’re realizing that sequential art narratives afford unique opportunities for learning, opportunities prose novels don’t offer.  And when librarians and educators get behind something, the market will follow.
  • dark-knightAnd finally, movies.  With the sudden popularity of superheroes and villains, the audience for comics is growing.  Now, I don’t know if seeing Batman, Spiderman, or Iron Man on the big screen will actually draw new readers to the comic book source material, but I would guess that to be the case.  And having a movie as phenomenally successful as the Dark Knight only makes the potential audience that much broader.

In making these points, I’m not necessarily advocating for the ascendancy of the graphic novel.  I’m merely suggesting a few reasons why I think their popularity and influence will only keep growing.

That being said, I am personally intrigued by the idea of writing one.  I grew up reading comics, and in high school even tried my hand at writing and illustrating one.  I think it’s a safe bet I’ll come back to that medium at some point in the future.  There are things a writer can do in a graphic novel that they can’t do with prose alone.

Contrary to what seems like conventional wisdom, comics do not promote “lazy reading.”  It’s just that graphic novels ask something different of the reader than prose novels do.  Graphic novels ask the reader to mentally fill in the spaces between panels on the page, to supply their own connective imagery.  They ask the reader to perceive the relationship between the text and the image.  In the best comics, the text and illustration play off each other in ways dramatic, clever, humorous, and at times, profound.  In the best comics, the text and art are inseparable.

That’s why this idea of whether a reader “needs” pictures to enjoy the book is missing the point.  Sometimes, it’s the book that needs the pictures to tell the story it couldn’t without them.

6 Comments by Matthew on January 21, 2009
filed in Books, Literacy

Newberiness

Good Masters, Sweet Ladies! (2008 Newbery Medal Winner)

Good Masters, Sweet Ladies! (2008 Newbery Medal Winner)

Later this month, the American Library Association will be broadcasting the ALA Midwinter Meeting on January 26th, 7:45 AM, MT.  This conference, among other things, is the time at which the winner of the 2009 Newbery Medal will be announced.  For those who want to watch the event, the ALA will have a first-come, first-serve webcast up on their site.

As the time for the announcement approaches, there’s been a  pretty heated argument raging discussion going on about the value of the Newbery Medal, itself.  It began when Anita Silvey questioned whether the Newbery had lost its way in the School Library Journal.  For a lot of people, this article was a thrown gauntlet, a call to arms on both sides of the debate.  It has provoked a succession of similarly critical articles in The Washington Post, the LA Times, and Bloomberg.com, while many others, such as Slate.com, Horn Book Editor-in-Chief Roger Sutton,  and prominent kidlit bloggers Nina Lindsay & Sharon McKellar have come to the defense of the venerable award.

You may want to read the articles, or you may not, but it’s a fascinating discussion to me.  What it really comes down to is the continued relevance of the Newbery Medal to young readers when less popular, less accessible titles like Criss Cross, The Higher Power of Lucky, and Good Masters, Sweet Ladies win the award.  What is the point of the medal if it’s given to books that kids don’t want to read?

The Higher Power of Lucky (2007 Newbery Medal Winner)

The Higher Power of Lucky (2007 Newbery Medal Winner)

Well, buried in that question (a bit of a straw man, if you’ll permit me) is an assumption that the Newbery Medal is somehow tied to popularity.  That it should be given to books that will be popular with kids, as if that were its point and purpose.  But such a consideration is not, and has never been, a part of the Newbery selection criteria.  How can the medal have “lost its way” if the criteria have not changed?

The closest criterion to “popularity” is contained in the statement, “Committee members must consider excellence of presentation for a child audience.”  But I don’t think that equates to popularity at all.  I think that statement means that the book should be judged on how well it’s written for kids.  The fact is, you can have one without the other.  Books written well for a child audience might not be popular, and popular books might very well be crap.  And it’s pretty darn clear which of those should be used in selecting a Newbery Medal winner.

The purpose of the Newbery Medal is right there in the name.  It’s there to recognize the most distinguished contribution to children’s literature published that year.  And in their definition of “distinguished” they include things like, “marked by excellence in quality,” and “individually distinct.”  I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that under that definition, I don’t think the Captain Underpants books are very distinguished, hilarious and extremely “popular” though they are.

Criss Cross (2006 Newbery Medal Winner)

Criss Cross (2006 Newbery Medal Winner)

I guess people will continue to criticize the Newbery Committees and blame them for all kinds of things when it comes to their selections each year, but in the end, the only thing I thing they’re guilty of is poor PR.  Parents, librarians, and teachers need to understand what the Newbery Medal is and what it isn’t.  That shiny golden sticker is not meant to indicate which books kids will love.  It is not meant to say that every child should even read them.  Neither is it meant to mark an enduring classic that will be adored and read for years to come.  It is meant to honor the most distinguished contribution to children’s literature published that year.

I may not like all their choices.  For that matter, I may not like any of the choices (but usually, I do).  In the end, my personal taste is kind of irrelevant, because even when I don’t care for a Newbery book, I can recognize the “excellence in quality” of the pick.  When you evaluate the Newbery Medal’s track record on its own terms, not on what other people think it should be, I think it does its job well.

(And P.S., I really enjoyed the last three “controversial” Newbery books pictured in this post.)

Update – 1/16/09, 11:04 am: Nina Lindsay linked to this editorial in the LA Times by Susan Patron, the author of The Higher Power of Lucky.  It’s worth a read.

6 Comments by Matthew on January 15, 2009
filed in Books, Literacy