Category Archives: Uncategorized

2014 Reading Rock Stars in the Rio Grande Valley

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(L to R) Cynthia Weill, Rene Saldana, Jr., Carmen Tafolla,
Diana Lopez, Lupe Ruiz-Flores, Duncan Tonatiuh,
and Diane Gonzales Bertrand
What fun it was doing school visits with six other authors as part of Reading Rock Stars down in the Rio Grande Valley. In the schools I visited, Emiliano Zapata Elementary in Mission, Texas, and Robert E. Lee Elementary in Edinburg, the students were ready to welcome me and two other authors as soon as we walked through the door. Banners, posters, drawings, and signs greeted us upon our arrival. 
 
Lupe Ruiz-Flores “Hall” at Zapata Elementary
Some students even went so far as to practice doing and signing petitions just like my character, Estela, in the book, Let’s Salsa. They put these up on a huge bulletin board in my “Lupe Ruiz-Flores Hall.” I autographed all
the posters on the walls as the librarians  walked me through. 
 
I enjoyed doing the reading/presentation and interacting with the students. The big surprise came at the end when I told them that each and every one of them would get an autographed book of the story I had just read. Cheers went up. Smiles spread across their faces. It was heartwarming to see student after student come up and receive a book.
 
Librarian Ms. Carrillo at Robert E. Lee
School and Author – Books! Books!
 
They were extremely polite and all said thank you or gracias. I hope I inspired the students to read and write more and hopefully to become lifelong readers. Thank you Texas Book Festival and Reading Rock Stars. Thank you Target for providing the books. And thank you faculty and librarians for all that you do for your students. We really appreciate you!




Teachers at Zapata Elementary

 
Author “signs” petition! – Robert E. Lee Elementary


Thank you, Target!

“The best books come from someplace deep inside…. Become emotionally involved. If you don’t care about your characters, your readers won’t either.” – Judy Blume


Is it middle grade or chapter book?

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Mexican Pottery
Are you sometimes confused about the difference between chapter books and middle-grade books? I must admit many of us often wonder. Here is an interesting article written by Marty Banks on the Chapter Book Chatblog that addresses this topic.  In it, Banks quotes Emma D. Dryden, founder of drydenbks, a children’s book editorial and publishing consultancy firm, who says: “Even though many books for middle grade readership have chapters, they’re not normally referred to as ‘chapter books’ by publishers; they are, however, often referred to as ‘chapter books’ by booksellers and librarians, and others, which is why I believe there’s confusion about this.” There’s more.
 
If you’re thinking of writing in this genre, read the entire post to get a better understanding of chapter books vs middle-grade ones. 
 
And if you’ve polished up your manuscript and are ready to submit, Albert Whiteman & Companyis accepting unsolicited submissions right now. So take that leap of faith and send your story out. Best of luck!


“Most new writers think it’s easy to write for children, but it’s not. You have to get in a beginning, middle and end, tell a great story, write well, not be condescending–all in a few pages.”  — Andrea Brown

Book Auctions

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Have you ever wondered how the process of a book “auction” works? Well, wonder no more. This post on the DearEditor blog, appeared on the Cynsations blog the other day. It is titled, “How Manuscript Auctions Work,” by editor Deborah Halverson. Although very brief, the article details the process your manuscript might go through if several publishers wish to acquire it. We should all be so lucky, right? It can happen. 
 
And here is another interesting link where five top agents reveal what they are looking for in your manuscript before making an offer. Five Agents Share What Makes Them Stop Reading Sample Pages appears in the Adventures in YA Publishing blog. Again this link appeared on the sensational Cynsations blog. 
 
If you’re planning to attend the San Antonio Book Festival on April 5, here is a lineup of the authors presenting that day. Hope to see you there!


“A book is a wonderful present. Though it may grow worn, it will never grow old.” – Jane Yolen

Reading Rock Stars

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This month I will be participating in Reading Rock Starsin the Rio Grande Valley. Not only is it a great opportunity to present to the students there, but each child is gifted with one of my books after the reading. It’s exciting and fun and a pleasure to be involved in such a great event! It is sponsored by the Texas Book Festival with local support from H-E-B, the Wright Family Foundation, the Tapestry Foundation, the ECG Foundation, Target, and other generous individuals. 
 
The article in Publishers Weekly is titled, “Fall 2013 Flying Starts: Sustaining Flight.” It features twelve children’s book writers and illustrators and brief interviews with each one on their books and the journey leading to publication. Included in the list are Christopher Paul Curtis, Karen Cushman, Kate DiCamillo, and Brian Selznick among many others. How they got their start is an inspiration in itself. 
 
If you’re interested in submitting to the educational market, here is a great link with dozens of publishers that take such submissions. Click on the EvelynChristensen blog for further details. 


“Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes, a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers, like athletes. Without that exercise, the muscles seize up.” – Jane Yolen

Leave room for the illustrator!

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If you are writing a picture book manuscript, here are a few tips from Deborah Underwood of The Christmas Quiet Bookas she guest posts on The Write Routine blog. She writes: Leaving room for the illustrator is one of the most important lessons for picture book writers. And I’m sorry to say it took me about six years to learn it. SIX YEARS. I think that was because I didn’t really understand why we need to leave room, why we shouldn’t write a lot of description. Now–finally!–I do.
 
Me: When I’m in the middle of writing a story for a picture book, I visualize in my head the colors, the clothes, the setting, etc. Once the illustrator reads the manuscript and sketches and comes up with the final art, I am stunned. The end result is always so much more beautiful than I envisioned. It’s best to leave out some details and give the illustrator the space to create. Illustrators are the artists who bring our story to life. Let’s leave them room to do their thing. It is a collaboration between author and illustrator to make the book the best that it can be. 


Underwood goes on to write: Every descriptive word in a picture book limits your illustrator. Read her post on how she resisted, at first, to make changes, but in the end was happy to have acquiesced.

Dummy – A loose mock-up of a book showing placement of text and artwork. – Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market.  Here’s a linkto creating a picture book dummy.

Rio Grande Valley School Visit and ESC Region One

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High School teachers with author and illustrator.
Just got back from three days down in the Rio Grande Valley. It was such fun! My illustrator daughter, Carolyn Dee Flores, and I did a joint presentation at Sharyland High School in Mission, Texas. She presented the creative book process from an illustrator’s perspective while I presented mine from the writer’s perspective. We had two sessions of about 150 high school students each. We felt privileged to be presenting to such talented art students.
 
Librarians Janie Flores and Nicole Cruz with author and illustrator
 A really neat surprise that left me speechless happened when one of the art students, Eric Hinojosa, presented me with the portrait below. I shall frame it and put it up in my home. Thank you, Eric.
 
Author with portrait.


Artist Eric Hinojosa with author and illustrator Carolyn Dee Flores.

The next day, my daughter and I again did a joint presentation, but this time we presented to librarians from the ESC Region One area in Edinburg. We also had the pleasure of being on the same schedule as award-winning author (2014 Pura Belpre Honor for The Living), Matt de la Peña, who wowed everyone with his keynote speech.

 


Author Matt de la Pena and me

I first met Matt at the 2013 summer SCBWI conference in Los Angeles. I attended one of his workshop sessions. We had a bit more time to talk at the Edinburg event. He is a remarkable writer. Imagine my surprise when he came up to my table so that I could autograph one of my books for him. Yikes!!

 
At our Saturday meeting yesterday, our local SCBWI chapter discussed the three 2014 award-winning  picture books: Locomotive by Brian Floca (Caldecott), Niño Wrestles the World by Yuyi Morales (Pura Belpre), and Knock, Knock: My Dad’s Dream For Me (Coretta King Illustrator Award) by Daniel Beaty and illustrated by Bryan Collier. All three books were awesome.
 
Hasta luego! Until next time.


“Art is really the language of feeling.” – Steven Kellogg

Multicultural book awards – 2014-2015 Tejas Star Book Award Reading List

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Exciting news for us. My bilingual picture book, Lupita’s First Dance/El Primer Baile de Lupita, which came out in November 2013 and is illustrated by Gabhor Utomo, is on the 2014-2015 Tejas Star Book Award Reading List. This award is sponsored by the Texas LibraryAssociation (TLA).
 
 
 
Also on the list is my daughter’s (Illustrator Carolyn Dee Flores’) bilingual picture book, Sing/Froggie/Sing/-Canta/Rana/Canta.  My daughter and I are thrilled! Congratulations to all the other authors and illustrators who made the list as well. Well deserved!


My never-fail secret to getting your book published … Write it! – Stephanie Gordon Tessler

Writing Tips/Articles for 2014

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In the past few days, there has been much excitement about the announcement of the 2014 Newbery, Caldecott, Pura Belpre, and many other annual book awards. Here is Kate DiCamillo’s reaction to her win. And here is Brian Floca’s. Enjoy!
 
And here is a Publishers Weekly blog post you do not want to miss. Titled “Fall 2013 Flying Starts: Sustaining Flight,” the article covers interviews with such famous authors as Kate DiCamillo, Brian Selznick, Libba Bray, and some others that I met at writers’ conferences, i.e., Christopher Paul Curtis, Karen Cushman, and Laurie Halse Anderson. Find out how they got their start. Amazing read!  
 
And now I leave you with “62 of the Top Writing Articles from 2013 (That Can Help You in 2014) written by Brian A. Klem on the Writer’s Digestblog. Happy writing in 2014!


There is more treasure in books than in all the pirates’ loot on Treasure Island … and best of all, you can enjoy these riches every day of your life. – Walt Disney

Winners of 2014 Newbery, Caldecott, Printz, Pura Bulpre

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Publishers’ Weekly just listed the winners of the 2014 Newbery, Caldecott, Printz, Pura Belpre and many other awards. Congratulations to all who won and to those who got honors as well.  
 
And today, January 27, is Multicultural Children’s Book Day.
 
Libraries! Love ‘em. Love to roam in the aisles where shelves and shelves of books beckon. But today, libraries are not just for books anymore. They offer a lot more. Take a peek at what one library in Florida offers their visitors.
 
The hand of the artist, a little stained with paint around the fingernails, must be seen. The voice of the writer, passionate and idiosyncratic, must be heard. And whether it is through adventure or humor or pathos, the story and pictures must always touch the heart. — Rosemary Wells

Where do I start my story?

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Mission San Jose
Are you having trouble deciding where to start your story? As writers, we are told to have a good hook to entice our reader to want to pick up our book. We are told to start at the point where something happens. The blog Ingrid’s Notes, has a post dedicated to this topic – where to start. “Inciting incident” is mentioned. Ingrid writes in step 1 of 4 steps: Why is an inciting incident so important? It’s the kick off the game! It creates the initial energy of your project and starts the plot. Everyone is always waiting for that exciting moment when the game begins. If you wait too long, people might leave before the story even starts.
This post is worth looking into if you’re in doubt about where to start your story.

You might want to read Publisher’s Weekly article on Newbery-Medalist, (Tale of Despereaux) Kate DiCamillo, the next National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature.  

And here’s something cool on the thisiscolossalblog – visuals of paper books. You’ve got to take a look at these. Amazing!

Anthology – A collection of selected writings by various authors or gatherings of works by one author. — Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market.