Three Picture Books for You or for Your Classroom

I've bombarded your inbox this week because of some timely reviews and announcements. I'll be taking a short blogging break, but will be back soon with more giveaways and reviews.

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I'm the fortunate recipient of many fine picture books to review and give away. Here are three that I think would be great resources in a classroom library --although you are welcome to try and win them for a beloved young reader!

America, Here I Come!

The author, Kyra Burton, is passionate about helping child immigrants transition to living in the United States. Her story follows Anna and Artem who live in Odessa in the Ukraine--"the most beautiful place in the world"--and a city that has beautiful butterflies. The children are upset when their parents announce they are moving to Raleigh, NC, where both of them have obtained jobs. The siblings dread having to make new friends and going to new schools; Anna finds some comfort by expressing her feelings in a journal. After getting settled in their new home, both Anna and Artem make new friends at a neighborhood park. On the way home they spot a butterfly and Anna points to it and thinks, "This butterfly is almost as pretty as the ones...back home." See Kyra's website for more resources on making America home. 

Miep and the Most Famous Diary: The Woman Who Rescued Anne Frank's Diary

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl is a classic that's informed a world of readers of the atrocities of the Holocaust. But, who knows the story of Miep Gies--the woman who put her own life on the line in order to save Anne's family and several other Jews? Miep and The Most Famous Diary written by Meeg Pincus and illustrated by Jordi Solano, gives a different perspective on this famous story. The day that her friends are arrested is one that Miep has dreaded for two years. After they are carted away by the Nazis, Miep finds Anne's diary, knowing that Anne dreamt of publishing it after the war. She hides it and refuses to read it. But when Mr. Frank returns after the war, Miep gives him this wonderful reminder of his intelligent, hopeful daughter. 

Everybody Says MEOW 

Readers of my blog aren't strangers to Constance Lombardo and her love for all things feline (Mr. Puffball, anyone?). In her debut picture book, Constance has written and illustrated a fun, colorful picture book that is short on words, but big on a lesson about inclusivity. Toddlers will enjoy identifying the different animals and repeating the noises that each make. Great pre-reading skills are reinforced for first readers.

GIVEAWAYS

Please leave a comment by 6 PM on December 14. Leave your NAME and email address (I don't know who UNKNOWN is!) and which book you'd like to receive. Both America, Here I Come and Everybody Says MEOW are autographed by the author. I'll mail them on Monday and hopefully you'll get them in time for Christmas. 

Behind the Scenes of REFUGEE: An Interview with Alan Gratz and Giveaway-Part II

Congratulations to Connie Saunders and Jennifer Ervin for winning FIRST TIMES from last week's blog.

As promised last week, Alan Gratz  has returned to share some of the intricate process of writing his middle grade novel, REFUGEE. 

Alan autographing a copy of REFUGEE
for the Cousins Club. 

INTERVIEW

CAROL: How much time did you spend researching REFUGEE? Was that typical for all your books?

ALAN: I spent a month or two researching REFUGEE, which is typical for me.

CAROL: Why did you pick the topic?

ALAN: Writing about refugees was something I wanted to tackle. I empathize with the plight of refugees in today's world, and wanted to do something to bring that situation to the attention of school children, the way Linda Sue Park did with water in Africa and A LONG WALK TO WATER.

CAROL: At what point in that process did you realize you were going to use three different characters in three different time periods? Did you plan it or did it “just” happen? Did you know the ending when you started writing? 

ALAN: I knew I was going to write a story about three different kids in three different time periods when I began researching and outlining the book. That decision--to tell three stories--took a while to come up with on its own. But as soon as I realized I could not only show parallels between each story, but actually link the three main characters and their families across time, that's when I knew I had a novel!

CAROL: Each POV is a complete story. Did you write the 3 POV separately or concurrently the way the book appears?

ALAN: I outlined each separately, all the way out--first Josef's story, then Isabel's, then Mahmoud's--although Isabel's story was created knowing what happened to Josef, and Mahmoud's knowing what happened to the other two children. Once I had all three stories outlined, then I wrote the book linearly. That is, I wrote Josef's first chapter, then Isabel's first chapter, then Mahmoud's first chapter, and so on and so on.

CAROL: What system do you use to keep the research, plot lines, and characters straight? 

ALAN: I had a system I had developed over the years, but that has now been replaced by the awesomeness that is Scrivener. Scrivener is a great program for writers that allows you to store all your research and outline and story notes and character sketches in the same file with your manuscript--and it doesn't take a million years to load. You can click between separate screens very easily. It even has an outlining feature with faux note cards on the screen, but I prefer to do that by hand on the big pin board in my office. I'm a heavy outliner, and Scrivener allows me to keep all of my pre-writing notes in one place and at my fingertips when I'm writing.

CAROL: You make writing look easy. 😀 How many drafts? 

ALAN: Including my outline--which, again, is pretty extensive--I did eight drafts of Refugee. The first drafts see the bigger things hammered out, and see major changes to the book's structure and characters. Beginning with the fifth draft, I'm focusing on much more specific problems. By the final drafts, I'm doing line editing. After the manuscript was finished, the Author's Note went through many more revisions than the book, as I tried to stay on top of all the changes happening in American politics and policy--both for the Syrian story AND, to my surprise, the Cuban story!

CAROL: This isn’t your first multi-POV book. What have you learned in the process of writing books from several POV? 

ALAN: With multiple POV books, you have to be very careful to make sure that each POV character has a unique voice and character. Ideally, you want the reader to know whose story they're reading just by the narration and dialogue, even without names or chapter titles. So I do a lot of work on the front end to develop my POV characters, and make sure they have rich, detailed lives off the page as well as on!

GIVEAWAY

Leave me a comment for a chance to win this amazing book. If you left a comment last week, I'll add another entry. MAKE SURE you leave me your email address if you are new to my blog! Random.org will choose a winner on September 28. Like last week, if you also leave a comment through Talking Story, I'll give you another chance (PLUS there are other great books on this topic in the Refugee issue!).