Literacy Now

The Breakup Bible and Darlings series author Melissa Kantor is part of the Reluctant Readers Panel at the IRA Annual Convention on Monday, April 30. In this Reading Today interview she talks about writing for young adults as well as teaching them for over 17 years. 

Reading Today: What got you interested in writing books for children and/or young adults? 

Melissa Kantor: The short answer is that I had a friend from high school who was a YA editor and she encouraged me to try my hand at writing YA. The longer answer (or the answer to why I keep writing YA as opposed to how I started writing it) is that I find writing about high school students fascinating. Their troubles (so easy to minimize from the distance and perspective provided by adulthood) are all-consuming and their freedoms so limited. As a writer, you couldn't ask for a more desirable set of circumstances out of which to create a story. I wrote a piece called "Why I write YA" that goes into this in more detail, and it's available here.

RT: What do consider your best book to date and why? 

MK: It's funny because only now that I have a bunch of books out do I understand that one's books are not like one's children: you don't have to love them all equally. Hard as I have tried, some books just never came together the way I'd hoped or imagined they would. The two books where I think I came the closest to getting it right (in other words, to creating the book I had in my head) are definitely The Breakup Bible and If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where's My Prince? The funny thing is that one was the easiest book I've written and the other was the most challenging. 

RT: What can attendees at IRA Chicago expect to hear from you? 

MK: In addition to being a writer, I've been a high school and middle school English teacher for seventeen years. My love of YA has helped me to get my students reading, and I'm excited to talk about what I've done to turn reluctant readers into passionate readers and how other teachers might use some of my ideas in their classrooms. 

Visit http://melissakantor.com/ for details about Kantor. Also read her recent column on the Engage Teacher to Teacher blog. For more information about the 2012 IRA Annual Convention in Chicago from April 29 to May 2, visit www.iraconvention.org. 

Melissa Kantor Will Be There…Will You?

Nance Wilson from the International Reading Association's Middle School Reading Special Interest Group (MSR-SIG) shares the groups exciting projects and activities. 

1. Are you especially proud of any of your SIG's projects?

One SIG project I am especially proud of is our efforts to link middle level authors with teachers and students. Beginning in 2010 we partnered with the author presenting at the annual convention with a classroom teacher. Throughout the year leading up to the conference, the teacher reads the author’s work with her students using interactive, interpersonal, and inquiry techniques. As the teacher finishes her study of the text, the students engage in a Skype session with the author. The lessons learned by both author and students are presented at the annual conference each year.  

This year we are excited to share lessons learned from using integrated technology, questioning, and collaboration from a fifth and eighth grade classroom. The fifth grade teacher, Monique Myers, will share a unit centered around the I Survived series by Lauren Tarshis, in which her students worked in literature circles to engage in discussions around the text, used iPads to research the facts behind the books, and prepared engaging in classroom presentations to share each of their texts. The eighth grade teacher, Bernadette Thompson, created a unit centered on Adam Gidwitz's novel A Tale Dark and Grimm to have students research multiple versions of the Hansel and Gretel tale, analyze narrative voice, and use an online Blog to facilitate discussion about the text within and beyond the classroom walls. 

A second MSR-SIG project that I am proud of speaks to the contributions and talents of our membership. Our newsletter boasts of regular columns such as Book Lists for Middle Grade Readers (by Melanie Koss) and Eye on Disciplinary Literacy (by Vassiliki Zygouris-Coe). Our biannual newsletter boasts peer reviewed articles that support the teaching of literacy across the curriculum for middle grade readers.

2. What are the benefits of joining your SIG? 

The biggest benefit to joining MSR-SIG is having access to professional development opportunities focused specifically on Middle Grades literacy as well as learning from the expertise of our members. Our membership is distributed between classroom teachers, literacy researchers, and librarians.   The goal of our SIG is to disseminate pertinent information and research on middle school reading, serve as a forum for expressing varying viewpoints on middle school reading, and promote an interest in further research in the field of middle level reading. In addition to having the opportunity to work with and learn from people across the country, registered members receive our SIG newsletter two times each year and can submit proposals to present at our annual MSR-SIG session.

3. Are there any future projects in store for your SIG?

One exciting new goal of the MSR-SIG is to create more dialogue among the membership throughout the years. For instance, we invite all middle grades teachers (4-9) to participate in our survey to determine what books are being taught in the middle grades classrooms. If you are a middle grades teacher, please take a moment to complete a brief 12 question survey by going to https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/62HT57K to participate, or feel free to pass the link along to a middle grades teacher that you know. Through this investigation we hope to learn more about the books being used in classrooms and to provide support for the teachers using them.

In addition, we want to find more ways to effectively share our resources and meet the needs of classroom teachers through increased communication between the members. We have a Facebook page for members to share their thoughts and ideas as well as a website for distributing information from past newsletters to booklists.

4. How does one join your SIG? 

The easiest way to join our SIG is to visit IRA’s MSR-SIG website. From here, you can go to the membership page to print the one page registration form and mail it with your $10 annual registration fee to our membership chair, Billie Jo Dunaway. Her contact information is included at the bottom of the form. Please note that you must be a member of IRA in order to join the MSR-SIG. There is also space on the form to indicate your interest in serving as a MSR-SIG committee member.

5. Is there a website, newsletter, or another way to find more information about your SIG? Is there a person that prospective members can contact?

To learn more about the MSR-SIG, you can download a recent newsletter from our Reading in the Middle link at the MSR-SIG website. To learn more about our SIG, you can contact me (Nance S. Wilson, President of the MSR-SIG) at msrsig@gmail.com. For more information about our newsletter, you can contact our editorial team at msrsig@gmail.com.

The author of Anna and the Bookbinder, Brushing Mom's Hair, The Year of the Book, and Eclipse is part of the Multicultural Author Panel on Tuesday, May 1, at the IRA Annual Convention. She tells Reading Today about her love of reading, family, and writing stories that may not have been told before. 

Reading Today: What got you interested in writing books for children and/or young adults?

Andrea Cheng: I come from a family of story tellers, and I started writing stories and poems in the third grade.  In sixth grade, I decided I wanted to be an author. I loved to read, and I read all the classic children’s books I could find at the local library. But rarely did I find children in situations like my own. I decided then that I wanted to write about immigrant children, bilingual children, African American children. I also loved art and wanted to make books with pictures. I never considered writing for adults.

RT: What do consider your best book to date and why?

AC: It is hard for me to pick a favorite from among my own books. I usually like the newest one most, and right now that is The Year of the Book. Anna Wang is a combination of my younger daughter, Ann, my older daughter, Jane, and myself. She is likeable but quirky. She has trouble fitting in and immerses herself in the world of books. But then, with the help of a cast of unusual friends, she starts to find her place in her community. I think many young readers will see themselves in Anna and will find themselves drawn to her funny and earnest personality.

RT: What can attendees at IRA Chicago expect to hear from you?

AC: People are often puzzled by the diversity of my books. I write stories about Asian American families in the US. I wrote stories that take place in Budapest or Shanghai. Some of my books are set in inner city Cincinnati. Attendees at IRA can expect to gain an understanding of where these multicultural stories come from as well as the themes that are common to all of my picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, and young adult novels.  

Andrea Cheng Will Be There…Will You?

The businessman turned author of From the Barrio to the Board Room, Robert J. Renteria, Jr. is part of the Multicultural Author Panel on Tuesday, May 1, at the IRA Annual Convention. This author, raised in the East L.A. barrio with a troubled youth and adolescence, shares his thoughts about challenging the secret darkness in many children's lives through inspiring writing. 

Reading Today: What got you interested in writing books for children and/or young adults?

Robert Rentaria: We have children, teenagers, adults alike walking around in a culture of darkness and I wanted to do something about it. 

RT: What do consider your best book to date and why?

RR: My graphic novel Mi Barrio because it brought From the Barrio to the Board Room to life to teach people around the world that Barrio is not just a book with words but a burning message of hope and dreams.

RT: What can attendees at IRA Chicago expect to hear from you?

RR: That knowledge is power and the secrets to success are hard work, dedication, and education. And, that the most important thing in this lifetime is family. 

Read more about Renteria, his work, and his outreach to troubled youth at www.fromthebarrio.com. For more information about the 2012 IRA Annual Convention in Chicago from April 29 to May 2, visit www.iraconvention.org.

Robert Rentaria Will Be There…Will You?

Nick Bruel's Bad Kitty series has entertained readers of all ages. He'll share the stories behind the cantankerous cat at the featured author session on Monday, April 30, at 11:00 a.m. at the IRA Annual Convention in Chicago. Reading Today interviewed Bruel on his career, his books, and his characters' popularity with children with special needs. 

Reading Today: What got you interested in writing books for children and/or young adults?

Nick Bruel: Just prior to wandering into this wonderful career I've found for myself, I was a cartoonist. I had some moderate success sending cartoons out to trade magazines around the country and abroad, and I even managed to self-syndicate a weekly comic strip for two years. I never earned enough to support myself, but I loved the work and I learned a lot. But then I found myself working in a small children's bookstore in Manhattan, and that's where I discovered how much picture books and comics shared a similar language in the way text and illustrations worked together to tell a story. I had tried previously to publish children's books, but to no avail. But while working in that bookstore, I became so saturated and educated in this wonderful literary form that I tried again. And this time it worked. My first book Boing was published in 2004, and I've never looked back.

RT: What do consider your best book to date and why?

NB: I get this question a lot, and I still don't have a satisfying answer. I don't have a favorite. I like to make the analogy of what it would be like if you asked someone who had lots of children... "Which one is your favorite child?" That person would answer... at least I hope he/she would answer... "I don't have a favorite. They are all special and unique to me for different reasons. Each gives me great joy for different reasons. Each challenges me for different reasons." And that's how I feel about my books.

RT: What can attendees at IRA Chicago expect to hear from you? 

NB: I'll be talking a little about my work and about Bad Kitty herself, of course. But I thought I would use the time to explore a recent phenomenon that's been taking place… For the last two years, I've been receiving emails and letters with greater and greater frequency from parents and teachers of children with "special needs" and especially Asperger’s Syndrome from all over the country. It seems that the Bad Kitty chapter books have touched a nerve with this community. After some discussion, a possible conclusion for why this is happening may have been reached. But I'm hoping that some further discussion will take place during the presentation itself. 

Find Bad Kitty games and more information on Nick Bruel's website at http://badkittybooks.squarespace.com. For more information about the 2012 IRA Annual Convention in Chicago from April 29 to May 2, visit www.iraconvention.org.

Nick Bruel Will Be There…Will You?