Kimberley’s Wanderings

Book Launch for MAY B! And a Giveaway!

2012-01-30T09:13:00.000-08:00

January 30, 2012

Caroline's Classroom Connections

May B. : An Interview with Caroline Starr Rose

Mavis Elizabeth Betterly, or May B. as she is known, is helping out on a neighbor's Kansas prairie homestead, "Just until Christmas," says her Pa. Twelve-year-old May wants to contribute, but it's hard to be separated from her family by fifteen long, unfamiliar miles.

Then the unthinkable happens: May is abandoned to the oncoming winter, trapped all alone in a tiny snow-covered sod house without any way to let her family know and no neighbors to turn to. In her solitude, she wavers between relishing her freedom and succumbing to utter despair, while trying to survive in the harshest conditions. Her physical struggle to first withstand and then to escape her prison is matched by tormenting memories of her failures at school.

Only a very strong girl will be able to stand up to both and emerge alive and well.

In this debut novel written in gripping verse, Caroline Starr Rose has given readers a new heroine to root for, one who never, ever gives up.

Spellbinders: How did your life path lead you to writing as a career?

I'm a former middle school English and social studies teacher and have been an avid reader since childhood. Writing books was always a dream, one I started to take seriously in 1998. I had no children at the time and was on summer vacation -- there really was no excuse not to give it a try. By the end of the summer, I had the first draft of a (horrendous!) children's novel about the Oregon Trail. I revised during the school year and began contacting editors the following spring.

This first manuscript helped set the pattern I was to continue until 2009: writing, revising, then sending out query letters to editors I hoped might be interested in my writing. May B. was my fourth novel and eleventh book overall (I write picture books, too).

Spellbinders: I read that MAY B. did not start out as a novel in verse. What made you decide to change to this format, and why do you think your story lends itself to being written in verse?

My first few attempts at writing the story as prose felt distant and lifeless. It wasn't until I returned to my research (and specifically a book called Read this Only to Yourself: The Private Writings of Midwestern Women, 1880-1910) that I saw the patterns these women's writings had in common: terse language, stark circumstances, a matter-of-fact tone. It was if the heavens had opened for me, and I was able to climb inside May's world, using the voices of the women I'd encountered through research.

A confession: I'd read only two verse novels before writing May B. -- Karen Hess's Out of the Dust and Sharon Creech's Heartbeat. This both terrified and liberated me. I stayed away from all verse novels while drafting, worried any sort of comparison would paralyze me. On the other hand, I wasn't bound by patterns or rules. Several readers have said May B.'s pacing reads more like prose (swifter than the typical verse novel), which ultimately serves the story.

Spellbinders: Your book is set in 1870s Kansas. What research did do you do to keep everything historically accurate? Why did you pick that era and Kansas?

I read. A lot. At first, all I knew was I wanted to write about the frontier but hadn't honed in on Kansas specifically. My first attempt at writing had been historical fiction, and I learned from that disastrous manuscript that regardless of the history, the story had to belong to the character; I couldn't beat historical facts into my readers' heads. I went into May B. trusting that if I kept my protagonist's perspective and understanding of her world, enough history would organically seep in.

A blizzard plays a key part in May's story, so I needed her somewhere where weather extremes weren't uncommon. I also was enamored with sod houses, which also limited in what part of the country May could live.

One special challenge was locating exactly where May's sod house stood. There's a reference in May B. to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, so the book had to take place in 1876 or later. I wanted her in a part of western Kansas that wasn't very developed and was semi-close to a railroad. It was also necessary to have wolves around. The first place I located May was outside of Dodge City, where she would have been smack dab in the middle of the Chisolm Cattle Trail -- not exactly the solitude I was looking for (I also wasn't interested in telling the sort of rowdy cowboy story that Dodge City brings to mind). The story couldn't take place much beyond 1880 because in order to have wolves, buffalo still needed to be prevalent; by 1880 these animals were widely wiped out. Gove County, Kansas became a good location: the railroad (and therefore surrounding communities) was still relatively new but old enough to have been there before 1880; the short-grass country of western Kansas supported sod houses; and wolves, while not spotted everyday, would have still roamed in packs at this time.

Spellbinders: How did you get the inspiration for May B.? Why did you choose to make her dyslexia a focus of the book?

I grew up with the Little House on the Prairie books and wanted to create my own strong pioneer girl. I was also curious how someone might write about solitude and challenged myself to experiment with a storyline that would confine one character to a limited space (believe me, there were many times I didn't feel up to this challenge!). I'd also fallen hard for Gary Paulsen's Hatchet and wanted to create a survival story told from a girl's perspective.

May's name, Mavis Elizabeth Betterly, came to me before I did any character development. I liked the way I could shorten Mavis Betterly to May B. and loved the way her name hinted at the wishy-washy word "maybe" (which is a word like mediocre or okay; it doesn't carry a lot of conviction), but also contained the strong word "better". Though I wasn't quite sure of the specifics, I determined there had to be something in May's life that made her feel mediocre, something she longed to do better and something that spoke not only to her lack of ability but also her sense of worth.

As a teacher, I'd always wondered how children with learning disabilities had fared at a time before their challenges were understood, especially in the days when recitation and reading aloud were the major means of instruction. Dyslexia became a perfect obstacle for a child striving to do better and mirrored nicely May B.'s theme of isolation.

Spellbinders: Do you have any advice about how to nurture a love of writing within our students?

It is so essential to give children the freedom to experiment with words. Allow kids to write things you'll never see (maybe have them keep a nature journal or a reader's response booklet as they read their favorite books). Give them a place that is a spelling and grammar-free zone. And most importantly, give them opportunities to write about things of their own choosing. While there are times and situations when essays, grammar, and the like need to be addressed, there are just as many times when they don't need to be.

Two things I firmly believe: children can't find their writing voice unless they are given permission to explore a lot of different ways to write. Also, as any writer will tell you, not everything we create is meant to be taken to the final draft stage. While it is important to teach children the steps of the writing process (brainstorming, rough draft, editing and revision, final draft), not every piece of writing needs to be taken this far.

And one more thing: Pick up a copy of Chris Van Allsburg's The Mysteries of Harris Burdick and watch your young writers blossom.

May B. Giveaway: As a reader, which middle grade protagonist has made the biggest impression on you? Why?

Stop by my May B. Facebook page and enter to win by answering the question above. One winner will be randomly selected. Contest ends 2/14.

Join Our Mailing List!

Meet the Spellbinders

Caroline Starr Rose spent her childhood in the deserts of Saudi Arabia and New Mexico, camping at the Red Sea in one and eating red chile in the other. She's taught English and social studies to upper elementary and middle-school students in New Mexico, Florida, Virginia, and Louisiana. Back in New
Mexico, Caroline now writes middle-grade novels and picture books full time.
Website
Blog





Carolee Dean has made numerous appearances as a guest poet/author at schools, libraries, poetry events, and teacher/library conferences. She holds a bachelor's degree in music therapy and a master's degree in communicative disorders, and she has spent over a decade working in the public schools as a speech-language pathologist. Her first novel, Comfort,was nominated as a Best Book for Young Adults, was named the Best YA Novel of 2002 by the Texas Institute of Letters, and was on the TAYSHAS (Texas Library Association) reading list. She conducts teacher trainings on inspiring reluctant writers including "The Secret Language of Stories" and "Random Acts of Haiku."

To find teacher's guides, writing activities, and information about author visits, go to my website.







Kimberley Griffiths Little is the recipient of the Southwest Book Award, The Whitney Award for Best Youth Novel of 2010, and the author of the highly acclaimed, The Healing Spell and Circle of Secrets, published by Scholastic Press. Look for her books at the Scholastic Book Fairs, as well as two more forthcoming novels in 2012 and 2013. She lives on a dirt road in a small town by the Rio Grande with her husband, a robotics engineer and their three sons. Kimberley is a favorite speaker at schools around the country, presenting "The Creative Diary", a highly successful writing workshop and has been a speaker at many conferences. Please visit her website to download free Teacher's Guides and Book Club Guides.



Upcoming Author Events

Sunday, March 11
Kimberley presents at the
Tucson Book Festival

12:30 -1:30 Panel with Author Will Hobbs: "Opening Minds Across Borders: Characters in Conflict"
AND
2:30 - 3:30 "Breaking into Children's Novels through Magazine Writing"

Each session followed by autographing

Saturday, March 17
UNM Continuing Ed
Young Writers Conference

Kimberley is presenting "The Creative Diary" - a hands-on Writing Workshop for kids and teens

Sunday, April 29th
9-5 Preconference Session
Author's Panel at the
International Reading Association Conference
Chicago, Illinois
"Rekindling the Reading and Writing Fire"

Join us for this all day session
featuring 11 authors including
all 3 Spellbinders
Carolee Dean
Kimberley Griffiths Little
Caroline Starr Rose

Tuesday, May 1
3 p.m. - 4 p.m.
International Reading Association Conference
Chicago, Illinois
"The Secret Language of Stories: Beyond Story Grammar"
Carolee Dean

Forward email

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Book Clubs: Running a Meeting!

2012-01-26T07:40:00.001-08:00

January 23, 2012

Caroline's Classroom Connections

Book Clubs, Part Three: Running a Meeting

Once you've

planned

and

organized

it's time to get started!

It's a good idea not to have a book discussion that first meeting. Instead, talk about ground rules and what you hope your book club will become. Here are some things to think through beforehand:

Will members be allowed to drop in when they feel like participating or will they be expected to attend regularly?
What happens if a member hasn't finished the book?
How can members prepare before the meeting?
And a key question: What's the point of a book club?

Here's a handout I gave my students our first week together:

Welcome to Book Club!

Here are some things you should know:

In order to attend a meeting, you need to read the book. That's it!

Sometimes we'll read a book about a boy. Sometimes we'll read about a girl. If you are a boy, you CAN read about a girl and survive. I promise. Girls, same for you.

To make Book Club as interesting as possible, it is good, though not required, to jot down things as you read. Here are some ideas:

How does this book compare to others I've read?
Three words to describe this book would be...
If I were the main character, I would have...
I was suprised/annoyed/happy etc. when __________ happened.
I like this book because...
I didn't like this book because...
My favorite character is _________ because...
If I could change a part of the story, it would be ___________
An important sentence in this story was _________ because...
Any of your own ideas!

You can get yourself a notebook to write notes in. You can write ideas on a scrap of paper. Where you write doesn't matter.

Come to the meeting with something to say! The more you say, the more fun the discussion. If you have a copy of the book, bring it along, too.

Come as often as you like.

Invite your friends!

Challenge yourself to read a type of book you might not pick up on your own.

Have fun!

I'm looking forward to our year together.

Now that you're all on the same page, assign the first book, select it together, or pass out the list of books you've planned for the group to read ahead of time. Make sure to include a way to contact you. Make sure you've arranged with parents for transportation. Be prepared to be flexible. And just like I mentioned above, commit to having fun!

Next month, Book Club Pitfalls to Avoid.

Join Our Mailing List!

Meet the Spellbinders

Caroline Starr Rose spent her childhood in the deserts of Saudi Arabia and New Mexico, camping at the Red Sea in one and eating red chile in the other. She's taught English and social studies to upper elementary and middle-school students in New Mexico, Florida, Virginia, and Louisiana. Back in New
Mexico, Caroline now writes middle-grade novels and picture books full time.
Website
Blog





Carolee Dean has made numerous appearances as a guest poet/author at schools, libraries, poetry events, and teacher/library conferences. She holds a bachelor's degree in music therapy and a master's degree in communicative disorders, and she has spent over a decade working in the public schools as a speech-language pathologist. Her first novel, Comfort,was nominated as a Best Book for Young Adults, was named the Best YA Novel of 2002 by the Texas Institute of Letters, and was on the TAYSHAS (Texas Library Association) reading list. She conducts teacher trainings on inspiring reluctant writers including "The Secret Language of Stories" and "Random Acts of Haiku."

To find teacher's guides, writing activities, and information about author visits, go to my website.






Upcoming Author Events

Sunday, March 11
Kimberley presents at the
Tucson Book Festival

12:30 -1:30 Panel with Author Will Hobbs: "Opening Minds Across Borders: Characters in Conflict"
AND
2:30 - 3:30 "Breaking into Children's Novels through Magazine Writing"

Each session followed by autographing

Saturday, March 17
UNM Continuing Ed
Young Writers Conference

Kimberley is presenting "The Creative Diary" - a hands-on Writing Workshop for kids and teens

Sunday, April 29th
9-5 Preconference Session
Author's Panel at the
International Reading Association Conference
Chicago, Illinois
"Rekindling the Reading and Writing Fire"
Join us for this all day session
featuring 11 authors including
all 3 Spellbinders
Carolee Dean
Kimberley Griffiths Little
Caroline Starr Rose

Tuesday, May 1
3 p.m. - 4 p.m.
International Reading Association Conference
Chicago, Illinois
"The Secret Language of Stories: Beyond Story Grammar"
Carolee Dean

Forward email

This email was sent to kglittle@msn.com by spellbinders@peifercomputing.net |

Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy.

Spellbinders | 3 YAF Authors | Albuquerque | NM | 87181

Potential Sanity-Saving Links!

2012-01-19T07:49:00.000-08:00

If you haven't read Anne Lamott, get yourself to the library or bookstore pronto! Her books about writing are some of the very best. She'll make you laugh, cry, and buoy up your writing life.After you read Bird by Bird, you will know in the deepest places of your soul if you are meant to be a writer or not.

I love this new piece of hers: Time Lost and Found.

This article also resonated greatly with me: The Joy of Quiet by Pico Iyer

I'm also currently reading the Writers and Poets current January/February issue. There is a section just for writers called "Inspiration" and I'm underlining stuff! Reading bits of articles before I go to bed at night.

Frank Bures' piece "Inner Space: Clearing Some Room for Inspiration", really resonated with me. It's like he READ MY MIND.This is stuff I've been feeling for at least a year now. Here's a snippet of what I underlined:

"I would sit down to research something and found I couldn't focus (or it takes 3 times longer than originally thought or planned). I started to feel overwhelmed, less and less able to control what I thought about. Online I would get a bizarre, Internet-induced amnesia, totally forgetting whatever I'd gone online for. I even wrote about the importance of getting offline, but found I was less and less able to simply do that . . ."

"I felt fragmented inside." YES! (That's me, Kimberley, in case you're wondering, hee, hee.)

In Creativity by Csikszentmihalti, he identified four major obstacles that keep people from creative accomplishment: psychic exhaustion, easy distraction, inability to protect/channel creative energy, and not knowing what to do with that energy.

Frank Bures: "Online, I would stay in open and curious mode for far too long, and it was getting harder to transition to the ruthless single-mindedness I needed to get anything done."

" . . . the ability to control one's attention is perhaps the single most important quality of the creative mind . . . I felt I was living in a constant state of "continuous partial attention", never fully tuned in to anything, but always partially tuned in to everything."

BINGO!!!

Here's the issue if you want to find it: http://www.pw.org/content/januaryfebruary_2012

***2012 is a year I want to take my life back. I want to feel more in control each day. I know it's going to be difficult, and I have to change the way I look at each day and my actions from the moment I crawl out of bed and stagger to the computer each morning.

1. I want more time for reading, pondering, praying.

2. I want to spend more time just being with and enjoying my family instead of constantly distracted.

3. I want more time to give service. (I'm hoping to begin a weekly half day spent helping tutor kids who need help with their reading through Albuquerque Reads program.)

4. I also have more writing/work to accomplish than I ever have before in my life so I'm feeling like taking control of my life is really critical for me. I'm under contract for 5 books that need to be written and taken through the editorial revision and production process. And then two book launches per year beginning in 2013! Yikes! Whew! Scary! Exciting!

But I also want to keep up with my dear, online writer friends, too. You have all helped me, given encouragement and advice as I read your blogs, cheered me on, and made me feel connected in the writing world, and that is priceless, too.

It's the hours of Online Coma that I want to get rid of!

I'm curious what your daily schedule is like. The most problematic days for me are when I have a lot of appts and errands to be run and then there's no time left for writing and reading. I'm also thinking I may have to give up a few other things that take tons of time and I have nothing substantial to show for it afterward. Thinking on this . . .

Newbery and Caldecott Buzz!

2012-01-17T08:17:00.000-08:00

January 16, 2012

Newbery And Caldecott Award Buzz!

Got Plans for the Weekend? Read any great books lately?

If you combine weekends and wonderful books, maybe you're headed to the American Library Association conference January 20-24 where librarians from all over the country will converge on Dallas Texas for the Midwinter meeting!

AND will your favorite book of 2011 win the coveted Newbery or Caldecott or Printz Award this weekend, too?

Here at SPELLBINDERS I'm highlighting a few books today that have been discussed/argued over, read and loved and considered for the Newbery Medal for the best distinguished novel of 2011 for young people. Last month I put out some of the best picture books of 2011 that will be up for the Caldecott Medal which you can see here: http://spellbindersbooknews.blogspot.com/2011/11/best-picture-books-of-2011.html

Eighteen Children's Awards will be announced in Dallas on Monday, January 23 at 7:30 a.m. Central Time. You can watch the live broadcast here at this link: Webcast

While waiting for the official announcements this week you can read some of the lively and "passionate" discussions going on about favorite picture books and novels of 2011 here on these two blogs:

Horn Book's "Calling Caldecott": http://www.hbook.com/category/blogs/calling-caldecott/

School Library Journal's Heavy Medal Blog on Newbery Buzz: http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/heavymedal

Here are a few titles that may win that have received excellent reviews and recommendations and that you may want to consider for your library or classroom collections.

Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart by Candace Fleming

Note: Each book's title is a link that will take you to the author's website.

Fun stuff - enjoy!

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu

Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai (the 2011 National Book Award Winner for Young People).

Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt

The Trouble with May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

Join Our Mailing List!

Meet the Spellbinders

Kimberley Griffiths Little is the recipient of the Southwest Book Award, The Whitney Award for Best Youth Novel of 2010, and the author of the highly acclaimed, The Healing Spell and Circle of Secrets, published by Scholastic Press. Look for her books at the Scholastic Book Fairs, as well

as two more forthcoming novels in 2012 and 2013. She lives on a dirt road in a small town by the Rio Grande with her husband, a robotics engineer and their three sons. Kimberley is a favorite speaker at schools around the country, presenting "The Creative Diary", a highly successful writing
workshop and has been a speaker at many conferences. Please
visit her website
to download free Teacher's Guides and Book Club Guides.

Carolee Dean has made numerous appearances as a guest poet/author at schools, libraries, poetry events, and teacher/library conferences. She holds a bachelor's degree in music therapy and a master's degree in communicative disorders, and she has spent over a decade working in the public schools as a speech-language pathologist. Her first novel, Comfort,was nominated as a Best Book for Young Adults, was named the Best YA Novel of 2002 by the Texas Institute of Letters, and was on the TAYSHAS (Texas Library Association) reading list. She conducts teacher trainings on inspiring reluctant writers including "The Secret Language of Stories" and "Random Acts of Haiku."

To find teacher's guides, writing activities, and information about author visits, go to www.caroleedean.com.




Caroline Starr Rose spent her childhood in the deserts of Saudi Arabia and New Mexico, camping at the Red Sea in one and eating red chile in the other. She's taught English and social studies to upper elementary and middle-school students in New Mexico, Florida, Virginia, and Louisiana. Back in New
Mexico, Caroline now writes middle-grade novels and picture books full time.

Website

Blog

UPCOMING AUTHOR EVENTS




Sunday, March 11

Kimberley presents at the
Tucson Book Festival

12:30 -1:30 Panel with Author Will Hobbs: "Opening Minds Across Borders: Characters in Conflict"
AND
2:30 - 3:30 "Breaking into Children's Novels through Magazine Writing"

Each session followed by autographing

Saturday, March 17
UNM Continuing Ed
Young Writers Conference

Kimberley is presenting "The Creative Diary" - a hands-on Writing Workshop for kids and teens

Sunday, April 29th, 2012
9-5 Preconference Session
Author's Panel at the
International Reading Association Conference
Chicago, Illinois
"Rekindling the Reading and Writing Fire"
Join us for this all day session
featuring 9 authors including
all 3 Spellbinders:
Carolee Dean
Kimberley Griffiths Little
Caroline Starr Rose
Tuesday, May 1
3 p.m. - 4 p.m.
International Reading Association Conference
Chicago, Illinois
"The Secret Language of Stories: Beyond Story Grammar"
Carolee Dean

Forward email

This email was sent to spellbinders@peifercomputing.net by spellbinders@peifercomputing.net |

Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy.

Spellbinders | 3 YAF Authors | Albuquerque | NM | 87181

Books have a life of their own and here's proof!!

2012-01-16T06:26:00.000-08:00

Allo from Milly again!

Kimberley is in the slightly awkward place of being in the middle of just enough to do and almost Too Much so I decided to Hijack her Blog again and post some of the Fun Book Awesomeness that has lately invaded my inner thoughts.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Kindles are Taking Over the World!!

"How?" do you ask? Well, let me tell you . . .

While on the search for cheap textbooks for a family member I found the exact textbook I was looking for in e-book version on Amazon for $5.

My mind went, $5.00!!!! No freakin way, its a scam! It's a 30 second rental! It's a Trojan Virus disguised as a ridiculously cheap text book!

But no, it's an actual textbook that for "special reasons", which I think translates to "about to be reprinted as a NEW edition", the book is discounted through Amazon for the Kindle version ONLY.

Well, being a poor college student who has very little extra money (except for when it comes to my addiction to Manga) I wondered if it would be worth it to purchase a cheap kindle for the purpose of school books. It also didn't hurt that the hard cover textbook in a "USED" version would have been the same price as the cheap kindle and the e-book together.

Well, Low and Behold, no sooner had the thought crossed my mind that I might have to give up my Sailor Moon for a little bit, Amazon posted a flashy widget saying that you can now read Kindle books on your computer, Mac, or Android device!

In a "Hallelujah" rush I downloaded the program onto my husband's laptop and Low and Behold, I now have a Kindle!

Needless to say, I bought the textbook and in the joy of having a basically "Free" kindle I proceeded to buy some e-books that may have been burning an imaginary hole in my bank account.

So if any of you are as "old" as I am and remember some of those old previews and commercials in which the narrator would say, "They're coming at you from the left, they're coming at you from the right, They're coming at you from the Refrigerator!!" Then this is an especially appropriate time. Be warned!!! They're coming at you from the Microwave!!!!

Kindle is taking over all the electronics in your House!!!! BUM, Bum, bum!

And now back to your Regularly scheduled program.... I mean Blogging!

So as somebody who on a regular occasion has more time than she knows what to do with I regularly surf the internet for things to entertain my cute little weird imagination and I came across the first best viral video of the year! Please note that as an Avid Reader and despite being a new "kinda" Kindle owner, I still love and adore the feeling of a New Hardcover Book.

So while I will read Kindle e-versions of books I will always prefer a hardcover book instead! This below is an awesome reason why Hardcover books will hopefully NEVER disappear.

The Joy of Books

Try Doing That with a Kindle!

See You Next Time when I hack a blog again ;)

~Milly~

(Me and my Very Cute Husband!)

Why We Need Stories - a great article!

2012-01-09T07:55:00.000-08:00

January 9, 2012

The Secret Language of Stories - Carolee Dean

WHY WE ALL NEED STORIES

I would like to start the year reminding us all about the importance of stories in our everyday lives. Spring is approaching with its emphasis on SBA testing and graduation rates and it's easy to get caught up in the high stakes game of meeting AYP, but before we get bogged down with test reviews and benchmarks, let's explore why we still need to remember the story.

Robert McKee, screenwriter, author, and lecturer, serves as a consultant to film studios and teaches writing seminars. In his book, Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting, he discusses how story is not just the most prolific art form, but rivals all other activities for the amount of time we spend on them. He reminds the reader of the endless hours so many people spend watching television, but then goes on to discusses how we tell stories to our co-workers at the water cooler, to our neighbors over the fence, engage in internet gossip with our friends, and share bedtime stories with our children. Even when we sleep we dream. He states that humans have an endless need for stories because, "Day after day we seek an answer to the ageless question Aristotle posed in Ethics: How should a human being lead his life?" He says stories help us discover the answer to this age old question and find order in the chaos of our lives.

As a speech-language pathologist, I often analyze a student's ability to retell a story and to produce original oral narratives as part of an overall process to determine if they have a language disorder. The ability to construct a story says a lot about overall language abilities and it is a skill important to everyday life. Natalie L. Hedberg, Ph.D., and Carole E. Westby, Ph.D., two noted speech-language pathologists discuss this importance in Analyzing Storytelling Skills: Theory to Practice. They list several ways that we all use storytelling in our everyday lives.

"We tell stories to entertain, to explain where we have come from and where we are going, and to reflect on our own experiences and the experiences of others. We come to know ourselves and others through the stories we tell. We tell one another stories about ourselves, and we live by the stories we tell. Narrative is a primary mode of thought that plays a major role in both our waking and sleeping lives" (Hedberg & Westby).

They go on to discuss how the ability to create stories requires not only linguistic skill, but also the understanding of the world and of people. It reflects conceptual knowledge, such as social problem solving and the understanding of cause and effect, the ability to take another person's point of view and to understand why people act the way that they do. They report that the ability to retell a well organized story based on a picture stimuli at first grade is a strong predictor of later reading success and overall school success.

Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph.D., Jungian analyst and storyteller, explores female archetypcal motifs in her book Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype. She uses the archetypes found in multicultural myths, fairy tales, and folk tales to help women explore their unconscious motivations and sharpen their insights. She uses stories as her medium partly because, "Stories are embedded with instructions which guide us about the complexities of life."

As we share stories with students, we should ask ourselves if the tales we choose for them are helping them to find meaning in their lives, to discover metaphors and archetypes to help them understand themselves, and those around them, and to structure their personal experiences. Bruno Bettelheim, in The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales, discusses the importance of stories to help find the meaning in life, but warns that, "The acquisition of skills, including the ability to read, becomes devalued when what one has learned to read adds nothing of importance to one's life."

He lists several things a story must to do hold a child's attention. Besides entertaining him, it must arouse curiosity, develop intellect, and clarify emotions. He states that stories that are meaningful and memorable will be sensitive to a child's anxieties and aspirations while recognizing his difficulties and providing solutions to the problems that baffle him. This is not to imply that young people should be spoon fed didactic morality tales or that we should only teach the classics because we think those are the stories of established worth. In fact, the best stories don't state overt messages, but through the experience of compelling characters and the choices they make, the reader learns what choices might be available to him. We must strive to see the importance in the stories that students find meaningful, whether or not we appreciate their intrinsic value. We can learn as much about life through farce as through drama and a child who discovers the joy of reading through Captain Underpants has found a great treasure.

I recently had a student spend all winter break reading World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie Wars by Max Brooks. The book tells the story of a world wide battle against zombies in a series of interviews conducted by "the author." To my knowledge, my student had never read a book for leisure. I'd never even seen him crack open a textbook. But over winter break, of his own free will, he completed this 432 page novel. I was able to connect with him on the subject of zombies, in which he gave an excellent summary of the events of the story. He now considers himself a good reader and is looking forward to the Zombie Survival Guide.

This was not a book that I necessarily would have recommended for him, but I have learned the importance of taking a student's interest in zombies, or football, or historical battles, or comic strips, or manga and using that as a springboard to talk about stories and to instill a love for reading. It reminds me that one of our greatest jobs as parents, educators, and authors is to help get the right book to the right student, whatever that book may be.

Join Our Mailing List!

Meet the Spellbinders

Carolee Dean has made numerous appearances as a guest poet/author at schools, libraries, poetry events, and teacher/library conferences. She holds a bachelor's degree in music therapy and a master's degree in communicative disorders, and she has spent over a decade working in the public schools as a

speech-language pathologist. Her first novel, Comfort,was nominated as a Best Book for Young Adults, was named the Best YA Novel of 2002 by the Texas Institute of Letters, and was on the TAYSHAS (Texas Library Association) reading list. She conducts teacher trainings on inspiring reluctant writers including "The Secret Language of Stories" and "Random

Acts of Haiku."

To find teacher's guides, writing activities, and information about author visits, go to my website.

Kimberley Griffiths Little is the recipient of the Southwest Book Award, The Whitney Award for Best Youth Novel of 2010, and the author of the highly acclaimed, The Healing Spell and Circle of Secrets, published by Scholastic Press. Look for her books at the Scholastic Book Fairs, as well as two more forthcoming novels in 2012 and 2013. She lives on a dirt road in a small town by the Rio Grande with her husband, a robotics engineer and their three sons. Kimberley is a favorite speaker at schools around the country, presenting "The Creative Diary", a highly successful writing workshop and has been a speaker at many conferences. Please visit her website to download free Teacher's Guides and Book Club Guides.

Caroline Starr Rose spent her childhood in the deserts of Saudi Arabia and New Mexico, camping at the Red Sea in one and eating red chile in the other. She's taught English and social studies to upper elementary and middle-school students in New Mexico, Florida, Virginia, and Louisiana. Back in New

Mexico, Caroline now writes middle-grade novels and picture books full time.

Website

Blog

UPCOMING AUTHOR EVENTS

Saturday, January 14th, 2012

2-3:30

Launch Party for May B.

Caroline Starr Rose's Debut Novel

Alamosa Books

8810 Holly, Suite D

Albuquerque, NM 87122

Sunday, April 29th, 2012

9-5 Preconference Session

Author's Panel at the

International Reading Association Conference

Chicago, Illinois

"Rekindling the Reading and Writing Fire"

Join us for this all day session

featuring 11 authors including

all 3 Spellbinders

Carolee Dean

Kimberley Griffiths Little

Caroline Starr Rose

Tuesday, May 1

3 p.m. - 4 p.m.

International Reading Association Conference

Chicago, Illinois

"The Secret Language of Stories: Beyond Story Grammar"

Carolee Dean

Forward email

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Finishing up our Delicious Book Recipes!

2012-01-03T08:46:00.000-08:00

January 2, 2012

FEATURE ISSUE: Food for Thought

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

To wrap up our holiday food theme and ring in the new year, for this issue each of the Spellbinders will discuss simple recipes from their books that may be shared with a classroom or book club.

Comfort (Houghton Mifflin) by Carolee Dean

Grades 6-12

Kenny Willson wants nothing more than to get out of Comfort, Texas, away from his alcoholic, ex-convict father and his controlling mother. In order to promote her husband as a country and western star and keep him out of bars, Kenny's mother opens the Comfort Cafe where her husband can sing without risk of violating his parole. The problem is that Kenny's father has no desire to be a country and western star and his wife hates cooking. Kenny's mother serves a variety of frozen, processed, and ready-made foods such as frozen pizza, corn dogs, honey buns, and frito pie and forces her son to quit football and band to work night and day in the cafe. Kenny finds his voice through mentorship of his journalism teacher and a pretty senior girl who encourages him to get involved in poetry competitions. Unfortunatley, she has a muscle-head boyfriend she can't seem to get rid of. This novel explores the idea that the things we find "comfortable" are often the things that keep us stuck.

Activities: Before reading the book, have students explore the theme of the book by making posters of things that bring them comfort. During the reading of the novel, explore how some of things that feel comfortable to us are actually harmful. Afterward have a "Comfort Foods Potluck" having students bring items from the Comfort Cafe or other comfort foods.

Recipe for Frito Pie

Heat 5-6 cans of chile in a crock pot

For each serving:

Place 1 cup of fritoes in a styrofoam bowl

cover with:

1/2 cup of chile

1/2 cup cheese

optional toppings may include:

chopped onions

green chile

sour cream

olives

shredded lettuce

The Healing Spell (Scholastic) by Kimberley Griffiths Little

(Grades 3-8)

From ALA Booklist Review:

Eleven-year-old Livie is terrified when her father insists that they bring her comatose mother home from the hospital. How can she look at, much less touch and care for, Mamma when she alone knows that she caused her illness? As Mamma continues to languish in bed, Livie grows more and more estranged from her family, a chasm that begins to close only after she gathers her courage to visit the local traiteur, who gives her the formula for a healing spell. As Livie collects the spell's necessary ingredients, she begins to open up to the knowledge that she is loved and cherished by her family. Little explores the extremes of childhood guilt and its consequences in this harsh yet well-crafted story about fully drawn people. The bayou, with its rich culture, is an atmospheric character that overlays the story with mystery and dread. A special offering for readers seeking a challenge of the heart as well as the mind. Grades 5-8. --Frances Bradburn

Go to this website and read the article "Cajun Wedding Traditions" by Jane Vidrine.

Compare Faye's wedding in the book with the description of a Cajun wedding in this article. What was the same and what was different? Write a compare/contrast essay about your findings.

At Faye's wedding, there was boiled crawfish and gumbo and boudin (a type of sausage) plus lots of side dishes and desserts.

Here's a recipe for gumbo that can be prepared the day before and plugged into a crockpot in the classroom for your students to try, using plastic bowls with spoons. Very yummy!

Kimberley's Favorite Louisiana Gumbo:

For Roux:

1/3 cup flour

1/3 cup cooking oil

Stir together flour and oil in a saucepan until smooth. Cook over medium-high heat for 4 minutes, stirring constantly for a few minutes longer until the roux is a dark reddish brown color. Let cool while you prepare the following:

3 - 5 cups of chicken broth

12-16 oz smoked boudin or sausage, sliced 1/2 inch thick

2 cups chopped cooked chicken

2 cups diced cooked chicken

1-2 cups sliced okra

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

1/2 cup chopped celery

4 garlic cloves and salt to taste

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp ground red pepper

Boiled white rice

Add chicken to broth in a 6 quart slow cooker. Stir in roux and mix well. Add sausage, okra,onion, green pepper, celery, garlic, salt and peppers seasonings. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Serve with hot, cooked rice.

May B. (Schwartz & Wade) by Caroline Starr Rose

(grades 3-7)

In this debut novel written in gripping verse, Caroline Starr Rose has given readers a new heroine to root for, one who never, ever gives up.

Activity: Four Pieces of String

20 feet, 16 feet, 20 feet, and 12.5 feet

Find a room big enough and stretch the string out, making a rectangle with a door-sized opening at one side.

Measure a bed, a dresser, a table, a stove. Mark the furnitures' dimensions on butcher paper and arrange it inside your string rectangle.

What do you have?

A furnished soddy! Imagine a family living together in this small space.

Recipe:

Send a self-addressed stamped envelope to the address below for free sourdough starter.

Oregon Trail Sourdough

P. O. Box 321

Jefferson, MD 21755

Here's a sourdough biscuit recipe to use with your starter:

1 Tbs active dry yeast

1 1/4 c water-lukewarm

1/3 c sugar

3/4 ts salt

1 c sourdough starter

5 c bread flour

melted butter or margarine

Dissolve the yeast in warm water with a little sugar till bubbly. Sourdough is a yeast but rises faster with added commercial yeast. In a large mixing bowl add sugar, salt, sourdough starter, yeast and flour. Cover; set in warm spot and let rise until double. Punch down and turn out onto floured work surface. Roll out to 3/4 inch thickness. Cut with biscuit cutter. Dip both sides in butter or oil, and place on well-greased baking sheet. Let rise 15 min. Bake at 425 - 20 min. or until golden brown.

Join Our Mailing List!

Meet the Spellbinders

Caroline Starr Rose spent her childhood in the deserts of Saudi Arabia and New Mexico, camping at the Red Sea in one and eating red chile in the other. She's taught English and social studies to upper elementary and middle-school students in New Mexico, Florida, Virginia, and Louisiana. Back in New
Mexico, Caroline now writes middle-grade novels and picture books full time.
Website
Blog





Carolee Dean has made numerous appearances as a guest poet/author at schools, libraries, poetry events, and teacher/library conferences. She holds a bachelor's degree in music therapy and a master's degree in communicative disorders, and she has spent over a decade working in the public schools as a speech-language pathologist. Her first novel, Comfort,was nominated as a Best Book for Young Adults, was named the Best YA Novel of 2002 by the Texas Institute of Letters, and was on the TAYSHAS (Texas Library Association) reading list. She conducts teacher trainings on inspiring reluctant writers including "The Secret Language of Stories" and "Random Acts of Haiku."

To find teacher's guides, writing activities, and information about author visits, go to my website.







Kimberley Griffiths Little is the recipient of the Southwest Book Award, The Whitney Award for Best Youth Novel of 2010, and the author of the highly acclaimed, The Healing Spell and Circle of Secrets, published by Scholastic Press. Look for her books at the Scholastic Book Fairs, as well as two more forthcoming novels in 2012 and 2013. She lives on a dirt road in a small town by the Rio Grande with her husband, a robotics engineer and their three sons. Kimberley is a favorite speaker at schools around the country, presenting "The Creative Diary", a highly successful writing workshop and has been a speaker at many conferences. Please visit her website to download free Teacher's Guides and Book Club Guides.


UPCOMING AUTHOR EVENTS

Saturday, January 14, 2012
2:00-3:30pm
Launch Party for Caroline Starr Rose's debut novel, May B.

Alamosa Books
8810 Holly Ave.
Suite D
Albuquerque, NM 87122

Sunday, April 29th, 2012
9-5 Preconference Session
Author's Panel at the
International Reading Association Conference
Chicago, Illinois
"Rekindling the Reading and Writing Fire"
Join us for this all day session
featuring 11 authors including
all 3 Spellbinders
Carolee Dean
Kimberley Griffiths Little
Caroline Starr Rose

Tuesday, May 1
3 p.m. - 4 p.m.
International Reading Association Conference
Chicago, Illinois
"The Secret Language of Stories: Beyond Story Grammar"
Carolee Dean

Forward email

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Books Read in 2011!

2011-12-31T15:10:00.000-08:00

Lots of folks are compiling their lists and I wasn't going to do this since I haven't kept very good track this past year, and I was embarrassed at the dearth of books I've read. Usually there are a lot more! It's been quite a year personally and professionally in so many ways: Emotional on a daily basis, full of tears, full of joy, several book deals, emergencies, lack of sleep, lots of travel, book launch, you name it!

Caroline Starr Rose has her list here and it sort of kicked me in the pants this afternoon to sit down and go through my library list of books checked out and read, as well as all the books tucked around the house that I bought and read.

Not as much adult or non-fiction, even though I checked out several highly recommended adult titles that I haven't finished and are sitting under my bed, waiting for me. They'll be on next year's list - I hope!

I am amazed that the total is still 68 books!!! I thought for sure it would be a measly 30 or 40. :-)

Books Read in 2011:

MIDDLE-GRADE AND YOUNG ADULT:

DRIZZLE by Kathleen Van Cleve

SHIPBREAKER by Paolo Bacigalupi

FALLING IN by Frances O’Roark Dowell

THE TAIL OF EMILY WINDSNAP by Liz Kessler

KEYS TO THE DEMON PRISON by Brandon Mull

GHOSTGIRL by Tonya Hurley

THE GIRL WHO COULD FLY by Victoria Forester

THE REPLACEMENT by Brenna Yovanoff

GOSSIP FROM THE GIRLS’ ROOM: A Blogtastic! Novel by Rose Cooper

AS SIMPLE AS IT SEEMS by Sarah Weeks

PIE by Sarah Weeks

TURTLE IN PARADISE by Jennifer L. Holm

THE NIGHT FAIRY by Laura Amy Schlitz

BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY by Ruta Sepetys

HOURGLASS by Myra McEntire

INCARCERON by Catherine Fisher

SAPPHIQUE by Catherine Fisher

SMALL PERSONS WITH WINGS by Ellen Booraem

STOLEN by Lucy Christopher

CLARITY by Kim Harrington

THE HIDDEN GALLERY by Maryrose Wood

THE MYSTERIOUS HOWLING by Maryrose Wood

THE GREAT WALL OF LUCY WU by Wendy Wan-Long Shang

MY INVENTED LIFE by Lauren Bjorkman

OUT OF MY MIND by Sharon M. Draper

THEODOSIA AND THE EYES OF HORUS by R. L. LaFevers

THEODOSIA AND THE LAST PHARAOH by R. L. LaFevers

THEODOSIA AND THE STAFF OF OSIRIS by R. L. LaFevers

THEODOSIA AND THE SERPENTS OF CHAOS by R. L. LaFevers

DIVERGENT by Veronica Roth

13 TREASURES by Michelle Harrison

THE SCORPIO RACES by Maggie Steivfater

THE JUMBEE Pamela Keyes

CLEOPATRA by Carolyn Meyer

WOLVES, BOYS AND OTHER THINGS THAT MIGHT KILL ME, Kristin Chandler

THROAT by R.A. Nelson

TYGER, TYGER by Kersten Hamilton

PARANORMALCY by Kiersten White

EXPOSED by Kimberly Marcus

THE LIAR SOCIETY by Lisa and Laura Roecker

FORBIDDEN SEA by Sheila Neilson

MOON OVER MANIFEST by Clare Vanderpool

MARCELLO IN THE REAL WORLD by Francisco X Stork

LADY MACBETH’S DAUGHTER by Lisa Klein

THE GRAND PLAN TO FIX EVERYTHING by Uma Krishnaswami

GLIMPSE by Carol Lynch Williams

PALACE BEAUTIFUL by Sarah DeFord Williams

HOUND DOG TRUE by Linda Urban

MATCHED by Allie Condie

ABANDON by Meg Cabot

THE FOURTH NEPHITE by Jeffrey Savage

THE CLOCKWORK THREE by Matthew Kirby

CROSS MY HEART by Julie Wright

MY DOUBLE LIFE by Janette Rallison

MISSING IN ACTION by Dean Hughes

THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins, (for the second time with hubby while driving across 950 miles of Texas.)

An assortment of Picture Books, probably about 20-30

ADULT:

THE MADONNA’S OF LENINGRAD by Debra Dean

MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL by John Berendt

SARAH’S KEY by Tatiana de Rosnay

SOME GIRLS, MY LIFE IN A HAREM by Jillian Lauren

NON-FICTION:

THE DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL by Anne Frank (for a book club and for the 3rd time)

BAD NEWS FOR OUTLAWS: the remarkable life of Bass Reeves, by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson

SAVE THE CAT! GOES TO THE MOVIES: THE SCREENWRITE’RS GUIDE TO EVERY STORY EVER TOLD by Blake Snyder

THE COURAGE TO WRITE: how writers transcend fear by Ralph Keyes

WORD AFTER WORD AFTER WORD by Patricia MacLachlan,

THE BOOK OF MORMON written and compiled by several prophets, between 600 BC and 400 AD

JESUS THE CHRIST by James E. Talmadge

Fill your paper . . .

2011-12-29T07:00:00.000-08:00

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.

William Wordsworth

I love this picture! It looks so peaceful - and yet mysterious and wistful and full of possibility.

I want to walk down this frosty, sparkly lane of trees and see where it leads me . . . which makes me think of how that's what it feels like to write a book . . .

We often walk down the empty, cold lanes of our Muse and see where it leads us in our minds and hearts . . .

More holiday Yummy from SPELLBINDERS!!!

2011-12-27T08:00:00.000-08:00

December 26, 2011

Caroline's Classroom Connections

EVERYTHING ON A WAFFLE

My name is Primrose Squarp. I am eleven years old. I have hair the color of carrots in apricot glaze (recipe to follow), skin fair and clear where it isn't freckled, and eyes like summer storms.

Readers will know right from the start that the narrator of Everything on a Waffle is going to tell her story straight and pull no punches. Primrose's parents have been lost at sea, but she believes without an iota of doubt that they are still alive, somewhere. She moves in with her Uncle Jack, but feels generally friendless. Her only real refuge is a local restaurant called The Girl on the Red Swing, where the owner, Miss Bowzer, serves everything on waffles -- except advice and good sense, which come free of charge and are always reliable.

Here's a waffle recipe to use with our BAKING MIX:

2 cups BAKING MIX (see recipe below)

1½ cups milk

2 eggs

1 Tablespoon oil

1 Tablespoon sugar (optional)

Preheat waffle maker. Combine sugar and mix. Then combine wet ingredients and add to dry mixture. Bake according to directions. Makes about 8 - 4 inch waffles.

If using for a classroom or book club group, waffles may be cooked in advance and heated in a toaster.

Have students bring the following toppings:

Fresh fruit

Whipped cream

Syrup

Nutella

Peanut Butter

Jelly

Gummy Bears

Tuna salad

Cheez Whiz

If you want to be adventurous, cut waffles into fourths and try different toppings on each piece.

BAKING MIX

1 five pound bag (or seventeen cups) of unbleached flour

9 Tablespoons (a little over ½ cup) of baking powder

2 Tablespoons of salt

3 one cup containers of Crisco shortening (one pound)

Put all ingredients except for shortening into a large bowl and mix thoroughly with a whisk. Cut the shortening into small pieces and then add to the dry mixture. Use two large knives to cut the shortening into the mixture. You may use a pasty blender, but it will get messy. Put the contents into an airtight container. This recipe makes about 21 cups of mix. A plastic, one gallon ice cream container (cleaned and dried and minus the ice cream) will hold about 18 cups of the mix. Store in a cool, dry place and use within 2-3 months.

Join Our Mailing List!

Meet the Spellbinders

Caroline Starr Rose spent her childhood in the deserts of Saudi Arabia and New Mexico, camping at the Red Sea in one and eating red chile in the other. She's taught English and social studies to upper elementary and middle-school students in New Mexico, Florida, Virginia, and Louisiana. Back in New
Mexico, Caroline now writes middle-grade novels and picture books full time.
Website
Blog





Carolee Dean has made numerous appearances as a guest poet/author at schools, libraries, poetry events, and teacher/library conferences. She holds a bachelor's degree in music therapy and a master's degree in communicative disorders, and she has spent over a decade working in the public schools as a speech-language pathologist. Her first novel, Comfort,was nominated as a Best Book for Young Adults, was named the Best YA Novel of 2002 by the Texas Institute of Letters, and was on the TAYSHAS (Texas Library Association) reading list. She conducts teacher trainings on inspiring reluctant writers including "The Secret Language of Stories" and "Random Acts of Haiku."

To find teacher's guides, writing activities, and information about author visits, go to my website.







Kimberley Griffiths Little is the recipient of the Southwest Book Award, The Whitney Award for Best Youth Novel of 2010, and the author of the highly acclaimed, The Healing Spell and Circle of Secrets, published by Scholastic Press. Look for her books at the Scholastic Book Fairs, as well as two more forthcoming novels in 2012 and 2013. She lives on a dirt road in a small town by the Rio Grande with her husband, a robotics engineer and their three sons. Kimberley is a favorite speaker at schools around the country, presenting "The Creative Diary", a highly successful writing workshop and has been a speaker at many conferences. Please visit her website to download free Teacher's Guides and Book Club Guides.


UPCOMING AUTHOR EVENTS

Saturday, January 14, 2012
2:00-3:30pm
Launch Party for Caroline Starr Rose's debut novel, May B.

Alamosa Books
8810 Holly Ave.
Suite D
Albuquerque, NM 87122

Sunday, April 29th, 2012
9-5 Preconference Session
Author's Panel at the
International Reading Association Conference
Chicago, Illinois
"Rekindling the Reading and Writing Fire"
Join us for this all day session
featuring 11 authors including
all 3 Spellbinders
Carolee Dean
Kimberley Griffiths Little
Caroline Starr Rose

Tuesday, May 1
3 p.m. - 4 p.m.
International Reading Association Conference
Chicago, Illinois
"The Secret Language of Stories: Beyond Story Grammar"
Carolee Dean

Forward email

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Merry Christmas, 2011!!!

2011-12-24T08:31:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS, Everyone!!!

Wishing you a blessed and warm holiday this week. I'm counting my blessings, and am especially grateful for my family and so many dear friends and all that our Heavenly Father has given us, especially His Son, our Savior, Redeemer and elder brother, Jesus Christ.

xo,

~Kimberley

Yummy Book Buzz!

2011-12-19T18:43:00.001-08:00

December 19, 2011

December Book Buzz Recipe!

IF YOU GIVE A MOOSE A MUFFIN

If a big hungry moose comes to visit, you might give him a muffin to make him feel at home. If you give him a muffin, he'll want some jam to go with it. When he's eaten all your muffins, he'll want to go to the store to get some more muffin mix.

In this hilarious sequel to If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, the young host is again run ragged by a surprise guest. Young readers will delight in the comic complications that follow when a little boy entertains a gregarious moose.

Here's a recipe using our BAKING MIX that is perfect for any moose you entertain over the holidays:

1½ cups BAKING MIX (see recipe below)

¼ cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ cup chopped nuts (optional)

½ cups chopped apples or other fruit

½ cup plus 1 Tb. milk

1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine first five ingredients, then combine milk and egg and add to dry mixture until just blended. Grease muffin pan. Fill large muffin pans 2/3 full. For mini muffins fill until level with pan. For six large muffins bake 20-25 minutes. For 16 mini muffins bake 15-20 minutes.

Fruit suggestions:

Chopped apples, peaches, strawberries

Whole blueberries, fresh or frozen (thawed)

Mashed bananas

Pumpkin

Applesauce

Note: If using a mashed fruit, add to wet ingredients instead of dry ingredients.

Adjust milk as necessary to create a thick batter.

BAKING MIX

1 five pound bag (or seventeen cups) of unbleached flour

9 tablespoons (a little over ½ cup) of baking powder

2 tablespoons of salt

3 one cup containers of Crisco shortening (one pound)

Join Our Mailing List!

Meet the Spellbinders

Kimberley Griffiths Little is the recipient of the Southwest Book Award, The Whitney Award for Best Youth Novel of 2010, and the author of the highly acclaimed, The Healing Spell and Circle of Secrets, published by Scholastic Press. Look for her books at the Scholastic Book Fairs, as well

as two more forthcoming novels in 2012 and 2013. She lives on a dirt road in a small town by the Rio Grande with her husband, a robotics engineer and their three sons. Kimberley is a favorite speaker at schools around the country, presenting "The Creative Diary", a highly successful writing
workshop and has been a speaker at many conferences. Please
visit her website
to download free Teacher's Guides and Book Club Guides.

Carolee Dean has made numerous appearances as a guest poet/author at schools, libraries, poetry events, and teacher/library conferences. She holds a bachelor's degree in music therapy and a master's degree in communicative disorders, and she has spent over a decade working in the public schools as a speech-language pathologist. Her first novel, Comfort,was nominated as a Best Book for Young Adults, was named the Best YA Novel of 2002 by the Texas Institute of Letters, and was on the TAYSHAS (Texas Library Association) reading list. She conducts teacher trainings on inspiring reluctant writers including "The Secret Language of Stories" and "Random Acts of Haiku."

To find teacher's guides, writing activities, and information about author visits, go to www.caroleedean.com.




Caroline Starr Rose spent her childhood in the deserts of Saudi Arabia and New Mexico, camping at the Red Sea in one and eating red chile in the other. She's taught English and social studies to upper elementary and middle-school students in New Mexico, Florida, Virginia, and Louisiana. Back in New
Mexico, Caroline now writes middle-grade novels and picture books full time.

Website

Blog

UPCOMING AUTHOR EVENTS

Saturday, Jan 14
2:00-3:30
Launch Party for May B.
Caroline Starr Rose's Debut Novel
Alamosa Books
8810 Holly, Suite D
Albuquerque, NM 87122

Sunday, April 29th, 2012
9-5 Preconference Session
Author's Panel at the
International Reading Association Conference
Chicago, Illinois
"Rekindling the Reading and Writing Fire"
Join us for this all day session
featuring 11 authors including
all 3 Spellbinders
Carolee Dean
Kimberley Griffiths Little
Caroline Starr Rose

Tuesday, May 1
3 p.m. - 4 p.m.
International Reading Association Conference
Chicago, Illinois
"The Secret Language of Stories: Beyond Story Grammar"
Carolee Dean

Forward email

This email was sent to kglittle@msn.com by spellbinders@peifercomputing.net |

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Spellbinders | 3 YAF Authors | Albuquerque | NM | 87181

Catch-up!

2011-12-13T09:03:00.000-08:00

Below is a Special Holiday Treat from us three girls at SPELLBINDERS (Carolee Dean and Caroline Starr Rose).

I've put up the last of the Writing Cottage Pictures at Facebook if you've missed them: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151013715345043.770589.698155042&type=3

Other FAB news: My Middle-eastern Goddess trilogy just sold to Poland yesterday! YAY! Thailand and now Poland. So. Very. Thrilled. Here is a link to the publisher there, it looks like they do some cool books: REMI Katarzyna Portnicka

Rainy days have set in and I have all my major holiday shopping to do. And decorating. And, well, everything. And all I want to do is decorate my little *house*.

More painting is still needed as well as clean-up and furniture and curtains! But we're close!

And here's SPELLBINDERS - from last Monday!

December 5, 2011

A Special Gift From Spellbinders

A HOLIDAY TREAT JUST FOR YOU

We know everyone is busy this holiday season, so rather than give you more to think about, we've decided to spend the next five weeks trying to make your life easier. We'd like to start by sharing a very simple, yet versatile recipe with you that will help you get your busy day started, and also warm you on cold December nights.

BAKING MIX

1 five pound bag (or seventeen cups) of unbleached flour

9 tablespoons (slightly more than 1/2 cup) of baking powder

2 tablespoons of salt

3 one cup containers (one pound) of Crisco shortening

QUICK BISCUITS

for 9 small, 2 inch biscuits for 14 small, 2 inch biscuits

2 cups BAKING MIX 3 cups BAKING MIX

½ cups milk 3/4 cups milk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Combine ingredients. Add just enough milk to form a stiff dough. For fluffier biscuits add one tablespoon of cold butter cut into pea size pieces before adding milk. Stir until just blended. Press onto a cutting board and form dough into a 1 inch thick slab. Use a 2 inch biscuit cutter to form round biscuits, or cut into 2 inch squares. Place side by side on a greased baking sheet and bake for about 12 minutes.

FLUFFY DUMPLINGS

1 cup BAKING MIX

1 tablespoon milk

1 egg

Make a large pot of your favorite chicken soup or use the recipe below. The key is to use a pot with a large circumference because the dumplings will float along the top of the soup. Combine ingredients into a stiff dough. Stir until just blended. Press onto a cutting board and form dough into a 1 inch slab. Cut into 2 inch squares. Drop into boiling soup and cover with a tight fitting lid. Cook for twenty minutes. Dumplings should be wet on the outside and dry on the inside.

CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL

Put the following ingredients in a 4-5 quart crockpot:

6 cups chicken broth

1 large frozen chicken breast

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon minced garlic

salt and pepper to taste

cut into bite size pieces and add:

2 potatoes

2 carrots

2 celery stalks

1 small onion (chopped)

Cook on low for 6-8 hours then take out chicken breast and cut into pieces and return to pot. Turn crockpot to high. Add dumplings and cook another 20 minutes.

A HOLIDAY GIFT

Are you running out of time to bake and distribute hundreds of holiday cookies? Are your friends tired of the sugar overload each holiday brings? Get 7 plastic bags and put three cups of BAKING MIX into each one. Secure each bag with a twist tie or zip lock and put in a decorative paper bag along with a stick on bow and these recipes. Your friends will be glad to receive something they can make for dinner instead of something that will just make them fat and cranky.

FOR THE NEXT FOUR WEEKS STAY TUNED TO SPELLBINDERS FOR RECIPES WITH BOOK TIE-INS THAT USE THIS BAKING RECIPE. NEXT WEEK WE WILL EXPLORE THE MIDDLE GRADE NOVEL TORTILLA SUN.

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Meet the Spellbinders

Caroline Starr Rose spent her childhood in the deserts of Saudi Arabia and New Mexico, camping at the Red Sea in one and eating red chile in the other. She's taught English and social studies to upper elementary and middle-school students in New Mexico, Florida, Virginia, and Louisiana. Back in New
Mexico, Caroline now writes middle-grade novels and picture books full time.
Website
Blog





Carolee Dean has made numerous appearances as a guest poet/author at schools, libraries, poetry events, and teacher/library conferences. She holds a bachelor's degree in music therapy and a master's degree in communicative disorders, and she has spent over a decade working in the public schools as a speech-language pathologist. Her first novel, Comfort,was nominated as a Best Book for Young Adults, was named the Best YA Novel of 2002 by the Texas Institute of Letters, and was on the TAYSHAS (Texas Library Association) reading list. She conducts teacher trainings on inspiring reluctant writers including "The Secret Language of Stories" and "Random Acts of Haiku."

To find teacher's guides, writing activities, and information about author visits, go to my website.







Kimberley Griffiths Little is the recipient of the Southwest Book Award, The Whitney Award for Best Youth Novel of 2010, and the author of the highly acclaimed, The Healing Spell and Circle of Secrets, published by Scholastic Press. Look for her books at the Scholastic Book Fairs, as well as two more forthcoming novels in 2012 and 2013. She lives on a dirt road in a small town by the Rio Grande with her husband, a robotics engineer and their three sons. Kimberley is a favorite speaker at schools around the country, presenting "The Creative Diary", a highly successful writing workshop and has been a speaker at many conferences. Please visit her website to download free Teacher's Guides and Book Club Guides.


UPCOMING AUTHOR EVENTS

Saturday, January 14, 2012
2:00-3:30pm
Launch Party for Caroline Starr Rose's debut novel, May B.

Alamosa Books
8810 Holly Ave.
Suite D
Albuquerque, NM 87122

Sunday, April 29th, 2012
9-5 Preconference Session
Author's Panel at the
International Reading Association Conference
Chicago, Illinois
"Rekindling the Reading and Writing Fire"
Join us for this all day session
featuring 11 authors including
all 3 Spellbinders
Carolee Dean
Kimberley Griffiths Little
Caroline Starr Rose

Tuesday, May 1
3 p.m. - 4 p.m.
International Reading Association Conference
Chicago, Illinois
"The Secret Language of Stories: Beyond Story Grammar"
Carolee Dean

Forward email

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Building My Writing Cottage!

2011-12-07T14:48:00.000-08:00

I'm in the midst of building my very own writing cottage! A dream I've had for years and years! Doesn't everybody though? Oh, to have a room of your own!

I've been hinting around for a long time that I would *love* a place of my own to write, and now with 5 books under contract to write, revise, and do all the editorial/production work on over the next 2-3 years I told my husband, "It's time!"

I've been desperate for some quiet space ever since I've had a whole other family living with me the past few years and babies and toddlers in the house! It's crazy, I tell you, crazy!

My younger brother and his very cute family is here for the week doing the work (he and I designed it ourselves, just a simple room with a porch and lots of windows!) and I have pictures up on Facebook so go there to see the work progress over the rest of the week.

I also wrote captions! I love captions on FB pictures so I know who's in it and what the occasion is (hint, hint all you people who download pictures on FB!)

More Pictures Coming but GO HERE TO BEGIN the Journey with Me!

And if you and I are not FB friends, then send me a request! I mean, why wouldn't we be FB friends, too!

~Kimberley

Book Clubs: Getting Started!

2011-12-05T05:00:00.000-08:00

November 28, 2011

Caroline's Classroom Connections

Book Clubs for Kids: Getting Started

Book clubs can take some work getting off the ground. If you're interested in starting a group, first think through the kind of community you'd like to form. Will this be a parent / child group? Will members be both boys and girls? Will they all be in the same grade? Will the book club have a theme of some sort?

Groups of all sorts are doable, though different approaches will be necessary in beginning and maintaining your special club. If you decide to work with all boys, for example, be aware active games might need to be incorporated into your meetings.

You'll need to advertise your club in some way, whether it's through informal conversation with other parents or through flyers distributed at the public library or (with permission!) your child's school. As a teacher I was able to draw from my own students and those in other grades. This gave me an advantage but wasn't a guarantee kids would attend.

Be sure to determine when and where you'll meet and keep this as consistent as possible. If at all possible, print this information and make sure to distribute it not only to the children but to parents, as well. My after-school groups met on Thursdays, the youngest group on the first Thursday of the month, the middle group on the second, and the oldest group on the third.

Be prepared to remind kids of this commitment. More than once. While teaching, I was able to keep the date of our next meeting listed with daily assignments. I'd mention it briefly every day. Did kids forget? Absolutely. Several usually had to call home the day of the meeting to let parents know. When I was no longer teaching, this was more of a challenge. I asked the dates to be listed in the school calendar and newsletter. Teachers posted flyers in their classrooms. Kids still forgot. If you're the only adult involved in your group, be prepared for this. Even responsible kids sometimes flake out. It's just the way things sometimes work.

Picking Books

If you're running a thematic group (fantasy, contemporary young adult, classics, historical fiction), your list will be easier to form. Book selection can be done as a group or on your own. I found, as the only adult in the groups I led, that it was easiest to pick all books beforehand. This way I was able to familiarize myself with titles (or re-familiarize), I could make sure kids had access to books, and I could plan ahead.

My school generously donated money to buy inexpensive paperbacks of the titles I'd selected. Of course, if I had more kids than books, some chose to purchase their own copies or check them out at the library (in situations like this, I'd hold a lottery for the copies I had to share). Planning ahead allowed parents to buy books, request books at the library, and schedule after-school activities with book club in mind.

Next month: Running a book club meeting

I received word that one of last month's links didn't work. Here they are again:

Where in the World Are We Reading

Travel Log

A special note to those of you who have generously been forwarding our newsletter to your entire school - Please use the button at the bottom of this page marked Forward this email to send to your list. If you forward through your email server, you may inadvertently get unsubscribed. It's a quirky feature of Constant Contact. Sorry about any inconvenience.

Another option is to follow us on Twitter in which case the newsletter will come right to the phone.

Join Our Mailing List!

Meet the Spellbinders

Caroline Starr Rose spent her childhood in the deserts of Saudi Arabia and New Mexico, camping at the Red Sea in one and eating red chile in the other. She's taught English and social studies to upper elementary and middle-school students in New Mexico, Florida, Virginia, and Louisiana. Back in New
Mexico, Caroline now writes middle-grade novels and picture books full time.
Website
Blog





Carolee Dean has made numerous appearances as a guest poet/author at schools, libraries, poetry events, and teacher/library conferences. She holds a bachelor's degree in music therapy and a master's degree in communicative disorders, and she has spent over a decade working in the public schools as a speech-language pathologist. Her first novel, Comfort,was nominated as a Best Book for Young Adults, was named the Best YA Novel of 2002 by the Texas Institute of Letters, and was on the TAYSHAS (Texas Library Association) reading list. She conducts teacher trainings on inspiring reluctant writers including "The Secret Language of Stories" and "Random Acts of Haiku."

To find teacher's guides, writing activities, and information about author visits, go to my website.







Kimberley Griffiths Little is the recipient of the Southwest Book Award, The Whitney Award for Best Youth Novel of 2010, and the author of the highly acclaimed, The Healing Spell and Circle of Secrets, published by Scholastic Press. Look for her books at the Scholastic Book Fairs, as well as two more forthcoming novels in 2012 and 2013. She lives on a dirt road in a small town by the Rio Grande with her husband, a robotics engineer and their three sons. Kimberley is a favorite speaker at schools around the country, presenting "The Creative Diary", a highly successful writing workshop and has been a speaker at many conferences. Please visit her website to download free Teacher's Guides and Book Club Guides.


UPCOMING AUTHOR EVENTS
Saturday, January 14, 2012
2:00-3:30pm
Launch Party for Caroline Starr Rose's debut novel, May B.
Alamosa Books
8810 Holly Ave.
Suite D
Albuquerque, NM 87122

Sunday, April 29th, 2012
9-5 Preconference Session
Author's Panel at the
International Reading Association Conference
Chicago, Illinois
"Rekindling the Reading and Writing Fire"
Join us for this all day session
featuring 11 authors including
all 3 Spellbinders
Carolee Dean
Kimberley Griffiths Little
Caroline Starr Rose

Tuesday, May 1
3 p.m. - 4 p.m.
International Reading Association Conference
Chicago, Illinois
"The Secret Language of Stories: Beyond Story Grammar"
Carolee Dean

Forward email

This email was sent to kglittle@msn.com by spellbinders@peifercomputing.net |

Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy.

Spellbinders | 3 YAF Authors | Albuquerque | NM | 87181

Fabulous Friday Links!

2011-12-02T08:33:00.000-08:00

Here are a few links I enjoyed this past week, hope you do, too!

Places I've done some fun and thought-provoking interviews and guest posts:

Middle-Grade Charm

YA Mindset

Theresa's Teaching Tribulations: Get Inspired

A Video from Room 23: Writing Workshop in CA with me!

Other Writerly Links:

The Life Cycle of a Blogger: Ten Stages

Reasons Not to Self-Publish in 2011-2012

Writers Must Write First

11 Frequently Asked Questions about Book Royalties and Advances

My biggest news this month is a Special Gift from my brother and his wife who are driving down this weekend to build me a Writing Cottage!!! Yes, the dream is finally coming true. A room of my own. A quiet place without Toddlers and Internet and the Phone--or lots of Mess. LOL.

Will be posting Pictures and the Adventure! Just hoping the weather cooperates. It's a bit dicey the next couple of days, but supposed to be clear, cold and sunny next week. Hey, he's from northern Utah so my weather is *warm* to him!

Happy Weekend!!!

STARRED Review from School Library Journal!

2011-12-01T05:00:00.000-08:00

WHOO HOO!!!!

My beautiful family/suspense/ghost story got a coveted star from SLJ. I am giddy with delight and absolutely thrilled. Thank you, dear Renee Steinberg!

I personally know the pain of bad reviews. After all, I've received many of them over the years since I started writing. I've also spent way too much time being jealous of all those authors for whom every book they write regularly get 2-4 starred reviews from the review journals. Heck, they probably yawn when they see them now! :-)

But I kept writing, kept submitting, kept receiving rejections, kept having books published that ended up orphaned and poorly reviewed (or not reviewed at all!) and then remaindered and out of print.

So this is a really special day for me. I feel validated. A milestone and goal achieved. And weird relief, too. Hopefully I can stay in print for awhile, ha, ha! School Librarians are the best! They work super long hours, are devoted to getting good books into the hands of their students and work tirelessly running several school libraries nowadays (with budget cuts!) and reading as many new books as they can squeeze into their late night hours so they will be able to match up the right book with the right child to help create a new reader - and a lasting reader into adulthood.

To get my very first *star* from SLJ means a lot to me. And Ta Da, here it is!

School Library Journal

December 1, 2011

Starred: LITTLE, Kimberley Griffiths. Circle of Secrets. 325p. CIP. Scholastic. 2011. Tr $17.99. ISBN 978-0-545-16561-7. LC 2011000889.

Gr 5-8–A story of loss, love, and forgiveness. When Shelby Jane’s father is sent out of the country for his work and her Grandma Phoebe must have an operation, she is sent to live with her mama deep in the Louisiana bayou. Because Shelby, 11, believes that her mother abandoned her, the start of this mother/daughter reunion is contentious, and Shelby seems determined to maintain her distance. Mirage is a traiteur, a healer who ministers to those in need with herbal remedies, prayers, and patience. Shelby’s reluctance to give an inch at first makes her transition to life in the bayou that much more difficult. She can’t, however, squelch her fascination with the blue bottle tree in the backyard. Mirage explains that the bottles are supposed to capture spirits and that notes are put inside to send messages from the beyond. A mysterious tone permeates this gripping story. Shelby is a believable, fully developed character, as is Mirage. When the child starts at her new school, she is drawn into a frightening truth-or-dare challenge by the in crowd, which foreshadows future eerie, terrifying developments. Her strong friendship with mysterious Gwen dovetails with her determination to understand notes she takes from the blue bottle tree and Mirage’s references to painful memories she is trying to forget. Little’s rich, vivid prose and characterization create an intriguing universe in which realism and mysticism intertwine as the story’s secrets unravel. Fans of Little’s The Healing Spell (Scholastic, 2010) and Donna Jo Napoli’s Alligator Bayou (Random, 2009) will be well served by this selection.–Renee Steinberg, formerly at Fieldstone Middle School, Montvale, NJ

RaShelle Workman and her debut novel, EXILED!

2011-11-30T06:24:00.000-08:00

I met RaShelle Workman a couple years ago online and we became instant friends. Then I got to meet her when she came to my book launch of THE HEALING SPELL at The King's English bookstore in Salt Lake City, Utah. She is a sweetheart! I was so touched and thrilled that she came to my book signing event. And now I'm very pleased to help her launch her new YA fantasy! (Fun questions below!)

Stubborn, sixteen-year-old Princess Venus of Kelari wants one thing, to become immortal, that is, until someone exiles her to Earth, kills her irrihunter and takes her family.

Now she wants revenge.

First she’s got to get home. But before she can return to Kelari, the Gods have commanded her to help an arrogant boy named Michael find his soul mate. Only she doesn't know the first thing about love.

Rather quickly, her inexperience with human emotion is obscured by other matters—alien-controlled psychotic teens that are out to kill her, and a government group that is set on capturing and dissecting her.

Worst of all, Venus will suffer a painful death-by-poisoning, thanks to Earth’s atmosphere, if she remains on the planet longer than one week. Still, Venus is a Princess and she's got a plan. Surely, with her help, Michael will fall in love with a human.

But time is running out and Michael is falling for the wrong girl—her.

You can purchase the book on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/EXILED-The-Connected-Series-ebook/dp/B005S5LSU8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322534966&sr=8-1

Smashwords:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/93621

BarnesandNoble:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/exiled-rashelle-workman/1106660012?ean=2940032809623&itm=1&usri=exiled+rashelle+workman

RaShelle Workman lives in Utah with her husband, three children and three dogs. When she gets a quiet moment alone, she enjoys reading about faraway places. And, in case you were wondering, yes, she does believe there is other life out in the Universe.

www.rashelleworkman.com

twitter: RaShelleWorkman http://twitter.com/#!/RaShelleWorkman

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/RaShelle-Workman/150080088338966

Kimberley: What do you love most about YA novels, and fantasy especially?

RaShelle: I love creating new worlds, new ways to live, and think. It’s a lot of fun. As for what I love most about YA, it’s the opportunity to delve into one of the most exciting points in a person’s life. Everything changes, becomes new and exciting, especially romance and love.

Kimberley: What is the significance of the butterflies on your fabulous book cover? And who created/designed the cover for you?

RaShelle: The butterflies represent change – like a caterpillar changing into a butterfly – Venus’s people go through a similar transformation at the age of sixteen. And Venus wants nothing more than to become immortal (her change). She believes her life will begin then.

As for the cover, a genius of a graphic designer, artist, etc… by the name of Steven Novak designed it. You can find him here. www.novakillustration.com

Kimberley: What are you working on now?

RaShelle: Right now I’m working on book 2 in this series (there are three total), BEGUILED, which will be released May 2012. And then book 3 will come out in November 2012 and it’s entitled DOVETAILED.

Kimberley: You have sure been busy writing, girl! How has your experience been managing all the components of publishing yourself: the editing, production, design and printing through Smashwords? Will you do it again?

RaShelle: The experience has been incredible. It’s time consuming, but worth it. I’ve met fans from all over the world – from Africa to Denmark… from England to Texas… from Canada to Florida. It’s been amazing. I’d do it again and I will be. My books are releasing through Polished Pen Press, my publishing company. I also have three other authors who’ll be releasing under my company in 2012.

Kimberley: So not only are you a writer, editor and marketer, but now you’re a Publisher! Congratulations!

Kimberley’s Wanderings

Book Launch for MAY B! And a Giveaway!

Book Clubs: Running a Meeting!

Potential Sanity-Saving Links!

Newbery and Caldecott Buzz!

Books have a life of their own and here's proof!!

Why We Need Stories - a great article!

Finishing up our Delicious Book Recipes!

Books Read in 2011!

Fill your paper . . .

More holiday Yummy from SPELLBINDERS!!!

Merry Christmas, 2011!!!

Yummy Book Buzz!

Catch-up!

Building My Writing Cottage!

Book Clubs: Getting Started!

Fabulous Friday Links!

***STARRED*** Review from School Library Journal!

RaShelle Workman and her debut novel, EXILED!

STARRED Review from School Library Journal!