Summertime Blues

I know . . . summer is supposed to be the time of vacations and free time . . . well, at least that’s what I thought when I was a kid. Now that I’m an adult, I see that summer is just as busy for me as the school year. Didn’t I go into teaching so that I would have my summers off?

Well, I guess that just isn’t an option when you are a workaholic like me, who has a crazy husband and five sons to boot. I’m done with classes until the first week of August when I head back to Logan for a three day introduction to my graduate program workshop. Of course, Im already half-way done now with that program, and we just got word that my husband will be working in California those three days (and a lot more), so what am I going to do with my kids while we’re both gone? Such a bother, as Winnie the Pooh might say, but I’ll play Scarlett O’Hara today and say, “Fiddle-dee-dee. I’ll think about that tomorrow.”

This week I’m trying desperately to finish a manuscript a publisher wants to see. Okay, I know it’s my fault for sending that e-mail query out the day before I left for Logan the first time, but how was I to ever guess I’d get a positive response in less than four minutes! I’m just too conditioned to those New York editors who take six months to tell me, “No.” Monday is my own drop-dead deadline for getting this nearly 600 page document into the mail.

Of course, that means I have to work like crazy between now and then because we are going to a family reunion in Beaver on Saturday and packing for a 10 day trip to Disney World Resorts. We leaved Tuesday, the day after my deadline, if I make it that long before collapsing!

Once the trip is over (if I’m not in jail for killing my husband or one of the kids—why is it teenagers can’t just stop the whining and be happy they are going to the Happiest Place on Earth????), I have a whole two weeks to enjoy my summer vacation, then I’m off and running, back to my graduate classes, getting ready to teach school (and those 7th graders I’ve never taught before), and still trying to finish the novel I’d hoped to have written by the end of June.

At least I spent an hour this afternoon watching my youngest play in his new pool. I guess that will have to count as my real summer vacation.

I did find the time to finish the second book from my Summer Reading Thing.

Ghost of a Chance by Kerry Blair

Samantha Shade, of the Nightshade Detective Agency, has been hired to find out what seems to be haunting the San Rafael Mission. But soon, Samantha is investigating a series of murders occurring within the parish. Several young men are found executed in the same gruesome manner—and each is discovered with a marigold between his lips. The clues all seem to lead to someone at the Mission. Who could be responsible? It’s Samantha’s job to find out, especially if she wants to live.

I love the book covers on this series, but unfortunately the books themselves have both been somewhat annoying. When I read a book, I want to be in the story with the main character, but not having them talk to me so often they draw me out of the intensity of the story, especially at a key time. At least this volume got rid of the crossword puzzle clues that ended every chapter in the first book (Mummy’s the Word). I think this author is really talented overall, but I have trouble staying hooked with the parts of the story that try to be “cutesy.” The joke just doesn’t translate onto paper for me. Because I thought book two was better than book one, I may give her one more chance when number three comes along.

Once Again, the Critics Got It Wrong

I often wonder who these people are who write the reviews for the latest Hollywood movies. What kind of a life must they lead? Do they all wait to read that first review before they make up their mind about a film and their opinion of it? Why do they so often get it wrong?

This weekend I took my sons to see Evan Almighty. Now, I admit, I have never seen Bruce Almighty, and the reasons have been clear: the previews for the Jim Carrey film were crass in my opinion. The MPAA rating service agreed with me: “Rated PG-13 for language, sexual content and some crude humor.” I did not want to pay money to watch a movie make fun of the very core of my beliefs.

There was something different about the tone of the trailers for Evan Almighty, however. The situations were funny and the characters seemed genuine, in a sweet and innocent way. The rating was only PG for mild rude humor and some peril. So off we went, including my 7 year-old, and I’m here to tell you, I was not disappointed.

The movie was hilarious, one of the best comedy films I’ve seen in the last couple of years. And that crude humor? Bird poop and alpaca spit. Seriously! Even when Evan Baxter and his wife get into bed at night, they are modestly clothed, and here’s the clincher—Evan gets onto his knees and PRAYS! When’s the last time you saw that happen in a movie made in Hollywood?

Morgan Freeman is great as God. He’s funny and personable, and someone I’d want to know as my Father in Heaven. The lesson Evan learns about following God’s will is beautiful, and even the bad guy gets what he deserves in the end.

There was not a single moment that I wasn’t enjoying myself. I never worried about my youngest watching this movie with me. I will admit, one of my teenagers thought it was stupid (of course, he thinks mostly everything is stupid—it comes with the age), but then, he loves Jim Carrey and crude humor so this one didn’t meet his lower level comedy standard. It required the audience to THINK.

And as for Hollywood? My husband is working on a shoot there this weekend as I write this. He passed on my review to their director who said, “I’m so glad to know. I was looking for a movie I could take my children to without having to worry.” Go figure!


I finished reading my first book for the Summer Reading Thing, so here’s my review.

The Fudge Cupcake Murder - Joanna Fluke

Hannah Swenson, owner of The Cookie Jar bakery, once again finds herself in the middle of a mystery, and it’s not just trying to discover the secret ingredient in a fudge cupcake recipe for the cookbook she’s compiling (although readers do get that recipe along with several others in the chapter divides.) After teaching her evening cooking class, while taking out the trash, Hannah discovers the body of Sheriff Grant, a not-well-liked man who was running a campaign for re-election against Hannah’s brother-in-law. The last thing the sheriff had been doing before his death? Eating one of Hannah’s trial fudge cupcakes, and the icing is all over him.

This fifth book in the series will continue to delight (and probably make hungry) fans of cozy mysteries. I know I’ll go back to Lake Eden, Minnesota, for another stop at The Cookie Jar.

Logan Bound

As some of you know, I’m currently enrolled in the Utah State University Graduate Program for a MEd in Instructional Technology. My focus area is Library Media, so this week I’m off to Logan to finish up my practicum, hours spent working in real libraries alongside my professors.

Since Murphy seemed to know what he was talking about with his Law, the fact that have to be gone from Sunday night until Friday evening also means that my husband, who has been home nearly full time for the past couple of months, has now been called to work on a series of commercials in Los Angeles and a film being made in Salt Lake. Ya gotta love it, but now we need to figure out how to fit his job around watching the kids who are still home for the summer.
(Of course, life will only get more insane if Mike’s jobs overlap the BIG TRIP planned for July that takes us off to Disney World for ten days.)

In any case, being in Logan means a top ten list for me:

1. I’ll have a whole week without my husband and kids driving me insane.
2. I’ll have a busy week attending classes and working in libraries.
3. I’ll not have access to my computer or the files at home.
4. I’ll be totally out of touch with all of YOU.
5. I’ll be worrying like crazy about finishing my homework for my classes.
6. I’ll be wondering how I’ll ever get the manuscript ready that a local publisher has requested.
7. I’ll be thinking about the deadline I set for myself on the new novel that isn’t getting done.
8. I’ll be too tired every evening to read the books that will be overdue at the public library.
9. But maybe I’ll never sleep in a strange apartment, on a strange bed (should I take all 5 of my pillows?) While sharing the bathroom with people I don’t know.
10. I’ll be so worn out when I get back from this trip, I’ll be happy to be bothered by my husband and sons while I try to write that work of art which will bring me fame and fortune, if I only survive the week in Logan.

See you all when I return, but in the meantime, I think I’ll join Tristi in the Summer Reading Thing. Here’s my list of books, and in no particular order:

1. The Book Thief - Markus Suzak
2. The Fudge Cupcake Murder - Joanna Fluke
3. The Children of Hurin - J.R.R. Tolkien
4. Tantalize - Cynthia Leitich Smith
5. Ghost of a Chance - Kerry Blair
6. Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth - T. Harv Ecker
7. It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff - Peter Walsh
8. Shakespeare's Landlord - Charlaine Harris
9. New Moon - Stephenie Meyer
10. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J. K. Rowling

Publication by Piggyback

Okay, okay, so it isn’t my book that’s new in the stores, but I feel like I’ve helped give birth to this baby all the same. Michele Paige Holmes (http://www.michelepaigeholmes.com/) has just released her first novel, Counting Stars. Since I’m a member of Michele’s critique group, and since I helped edit this book, I feel like it’s got a little part of me inside. As a matter of fact, it does—it has my name in the acknowledgment page.

Michele should be proud. This is a great story, and readers will love it. I’m happy to recommend it to all of you, especially since I played a small part of seeing it be released.

Thanks, Michele, for letting me be a support to you on this project, and for all the support you (and the rest of our illustrious group) give to me. Maybe next year, I’ll be the one standing at the autograph table, handing out chocolates and hoping people will buy my book. In the meantime, keep working on Jay’s story and I’ll get back to creating a romance for Jenny and James.

From the back cover of Counting Stars . . .

Jane was hoping for a date—maybe even a boyfriend. What she wasn't expecting was Paul Bryant's completely original and sincere pick-up line: Hi. I'm Paul. I have terminal cancer. My wife was killed in a car accident, and I'm looking for a woman to raise my children.

It was never Jane's plan to fall in love with a dying man and his two infants. But her seemingly simple decision to date someone outside her faith leads to one complication after another. With the stakes this high, is choosing to help Paul a choice to be alone forever?

And how can Paul feel so confident that this woman—who's never managed to keep a checking account for more than six months—should be the one to raise his children?

How can something that seems so unbelievably insane feel so completely right?

Sometimes love is found in the least likely places, and the greatest blessings are discovered while counting stars.

Available now: http://www.covenant-lds.com/osb2/itemdetails.cfm?ID=2023

Take A Meeting

We have become a world filled with meetings. There are meetings for planning, meetings for training, meetings to plan for meetings! No organization seems to be able to run anymore without heaping on meetings.

Take the church for instance. Elder Henry B. Eyring reminded us the November 1996 General Conference: “Prophets in our time have consolidated our meetings on Sunday to allow time for families to be together.” Yet this morning, three of my teenage sons are already at the church—four hours before our block starts—attending a training meeting. Once this meeting is done, they will be off doing fast offerings. Tonight there is a Stake Fireside kick-off to this week’s Youth Conference which takes them out of town for two days, after an evening of doing service projects in the neighborhood. Last night, one of the boys had a meeting to plan this morning’s meeting, and a phone call earlier today confirmed that all three of the boys have an extra meeting every Sunday this month except for Father’s Day, which is always our stake conference. So, would someone please remind me, when we are supposed to have extra family time on Sunday?

Church isn’t the only place we’ve become meeting-happy. I teach school and it seems that preparing lessons and spending quality time in my classroom isn’t enough, despite the fact that my students’ scores on the time-wasting tests are sky-high. Last year we started collaboration—which so far has meant that my former student teacher tries to tell our entire department what to do. Next year, the district has found this extra meeting to be so important that we have a late-start every Wednesday—more time away from teaching—so the teachers can meet to collaborate (lock-step might be a better description of the intention in my opinion). Isn’t is amazing that I’ve survived 28 years of successful teaching without this extra weekly meeting?

Then there are board meetings. I’m on several boards for education-related organizations. What used to be monthly on-line meetings for one board is once again swaying toward in-person meetings that require members to travel from the far reaches of the state for an hour of face-to-face. Another local board calls for a small group (3-5 people) to meet at a central location each month, despite the fact that a conference phone call or e-mail could handle all of the decisions in a matter of minutes.

Add to this the meetings we have to attend as parents (state-required SEOPs four times a year per child, for example), and the list of places we have to be can suddenly become overwhelming! Is it any wonder people skip out, don’t participate, or are always running late? Obviously, they are scheduled for too many meetings!

How I long for the good old days, when life seemed to go along smoothly and was not run by a day-planner scheduled full of excess meetings that some leader has deemed as vital to the success of their program.

My Summer Writing Schedule



Summer vacation is supposed to be a time of relaxation, but that never seems to happen for me. Instead, my time away from teaching school is my window of opportunity for writing. This summer’s schedule is no different from any others, except that this year I’m going to graduate school at the same time.

Here’s a rundown of what I’ll try to complete in the 80 days between the time school gets out and when the teachers go back to work:

1. Finish the new romance novel I’ve been working on.

2. Finish the Middle Grade novel I started this year.

3. Finish the book guides for Books, Books, and More Books: Volume 2.

4. Write a screenplay adaptation of a novel I’ve wanted to see made into a movie.

5. Write several magazine articles and submit.

6. Continue my columns, blogs, and zines.

Then there is the marketing. These are my summer goals for the things that are already written, edited, and looking for a publisher:

1. Follow-up with editors and the agent for the three books already submitted.

2. Query publishers for three more books.

3. Search for a film agent for the three scripts I’ve written.

4. Check with the producer who optioned one of my scripts to see what’s happening with funding.

5. Query magazines and submit articles.

6. Do interviews and assemble podcasts to post to my blog.

Oh, and I can’t forget the editing.

1. Finish the 90,000 word manuscript that was dropped off to me this week.

2. Go through my own stack of edits from my critique group and revise my manuscripts accordingly.

3. Edit manuscripts for Precision Editing Group.

4. Get to critique group every week.

5. Meet with a fledgling critique group to help them know how to get started.

And at last, I’ll have time to read the hundred or so novels that publishers have sent me to review for my newspaper columns, educator magazines, or workshops I present.

Oh, no! That means I’m back at list one with more things to write! And they call this a VACATION.

Give Me a Break!

My entire life I’ve wanted to be a writer. Somewhere in my future scrap-booking projects box are copies of papers and poems I wrote clear back in grade school, as well as works from my high school and college years.

My computer hard drive is filled with more recent works—five completed middle grade novels, several film scripts, the new adult novel I’m working on, and countless non-fiction projects, both short and long. And, of course, the drafts of all those query letters and a chart filled with rejections from most of them.

All of this can sometimes get depressing, especially when I have a day like today. I was doing inventory in my classroom library and picked up a copy of Veggiemorphs: The Fungus Among Us, and I had to wonder, what on earth am I missing?

I slave for months—sometimes years—over a manuscript, doing rough drafts, research, and revising until I think I can’t look at the pages one more time. I follow the same process with the query, even running those past my well-published critique group. I study the guidelines for publishers and agents, then send my polished letters and manuscripts off into the world, hoping someone will love my babies enough to send me a contract.

But, when it comes to a novel or full-length non-fiction book, that hasn’t happened. And that’s why it was so depressing to see the Veggiemorphs book in my class library inventory. Not only did an editor offer a contract for this book, but someone—not me, I can assure you!—actually paid money to buy the book once it was published.

Granted, I hope what I write is much, much better than the quality of a Veggiemorph book (I’ll admit, I haven’t read one, but my students have totally panned the series). The book may not be a work of art, but at least that author got something published, got a foot in the door.

Why can’t an editor give me such a break?

Where Does the Weekend Go?

I always have such high hopes of getting lots of stuff done over the weekend. Alas, the stack of historical fiction papers from my 9th graders still sitting in my school bag, 23 books perched on the top of my desk awaiting guides, and two novels that absolutely must be read and reviewed before next weekend prove that the time I thought I have never seems to be enough to cover all the things I have to do.

As I write this blog entry, it’s nearly six o’clock on Sunday evening. I still haven’t sent my two weekly e-zines to subscribers, and the three thousand words I wanted to write this weekend on my new novel will be lucky to make it to two.

Of course, I have sent two submissions, written two newspaper columns, composed three blog entries, and graded a few student papers, but it all seems so insufficient compared to all that I still need to finish.

All I have to do is make it through 19 more days, and my time will suddenly be as free as that of a queen. School will be through, and I’ll be able to concentrate on all of those tasks that get set aside for when there is nothing else to do.

Ah, the luxury of it all—until August, that is, when the back to school panic once again sets in. But in the meantime, there is still so much to do!

It's a Techno-World, After All!

This past week has taken me deeper and deeper into the world of technology.

First, I finished two more Master's classes toward my degree in Information Technology.

Then, Annette Lyon got a group of us all technologically tied together through her Planet: www.WritersinHeels.com.

I set up a second blog of my own, www.LuAnnsLibraryTechnology.blogspot.com, plus posted at www.WritingontheWallblog.blogspot.com.

Next, I got myself registered all over the internet so I could post files at blink.tv, get subcribers hooked up through my blog at feedburner.com, and signed up to follow how many people are reading my blogs at technorati.com.

But, the biggest feat of all, is tonight I'm ready to advertise the first episode of "The Author's Corner," my podcast. This week features an interview with author Jeff Savage.

Those of you who listen to podcasts can subscribe and your computer will download new episodes to your MP3 (iPod) files as they become available.

Next, I'll be setting up interviews with some of YOU, but maybe I should take a few days off and grade that HUGE and growing stack of papers from my students now that only 20 days are left of school.

To listen to the podcast, click below.

Click To Play

Lu Ann’s Top Ten Classics

My honors students have proven the point that reading the classics does help with vocabulary development, especially when it comes to doing well on standardized tests. I’ve been reading classics since my own school days, and I’ve put together a list of ten books I’ve enjoyed. If you haven’t already ready them, pick one and give it a chance. You might be surprised by how fun it can be to read a novel written before you were born.

Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Signet Classics, 1997.
True gothic romance. The story of plain Jane, orphaned as a girl and raised in an abusive school, who becomes a governess of a young girl whose benefactor is irresistible to Jane. Despite their love for one another, his dark past comes between them just as they are to be married.

Dickens, Charles. A Christmas Carol. Bantam, 1986.
Must you ask? The story of Scrooge, miserliness, and finding love in the world. Incredible descriptions are lost if you’ve only seen the movie.

Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. Warner Books, 1988.
Set in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Depression, the story follows three years in the life of 8-year-old Scout Finch, her brother, Jem, and their father, Atticus—three years punctuated by the arrest and eventual trial of a young black man accused of raping a white woman.

Orwell, George. Animal Farm. Signet Classics, 2004.
Believe it or not, I just read this fable of a workers' revolution gone wrong for the first time this year. And who said English majors couldn’t graduate without reading the classic canon?

Shakespeare, William. Romeo & Juliet. Folger Library, 2004.
How could I ever omit my favorite play by my first cousin, twelve times removed ? (We share common ancestors of Robert Arden and Mary Webb.) I memorized the soundtrack to the Zefferelli film version in 1968 and teach this tragic love story every year, yet I continue to love it and learn something new each time I teach it.

Stoker, Bram. Dracula. Peter Bedrick Books, 1989.
The original vampire tale begins when a young Englishman travels to Transylvania to do business with a client, Count Dracula. After showing his true and terrifying colors, Dracula boards a ship for England in search of new, fresh blood.

Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Oxford World’s Classic, 1984.
As Eliza flees slavery to protect her son, we see into three plantations, each worse than the other, where even the best plantation leaves a slave at the mercy of fate or death.

Stratton-Porter, Gene. A Girl of the Limberlost. The Library of Indiana Classics, 1984.
This was my mother’s favorite novel when she was a girl. I read it every year from 4th - 12th grade. Once I even visited the Limberlost—or what’s left of it—and Stratton-Porter’s home where Elnora’s butterfly collection is still displayed. The movie doesn’t do this book justice.

Wharton, Edith. Ethan Frome. Signet Classic, 2004.
Another classic that I just discovered this past year. The hard-edged irony and the flashback technique provides an incredible climax in this story of Ethan Frome, his wife Zenobia, and her young cousin Mattie Silver, the woman Ethan learns to love.

Wilder, Thornton. Our Town: A Play in Three Acts. Harper Collins, 2003.
Set in Grover's Corners, N.H., the play relates the story of George Gibbs and Emily Webb as they go through courtship, Emily’s early death from child-birth, and her thoughts as a spirit in the local graveyard.

Playing Tag on the Internet

The latest rage in the blogging game seems to be playing tag, you’re it. Hey, didn’t we play this in grade school? Oh, well, since I’ve already been tagged, I’ll give it a go. Maybe I’ll learn something along the way.

Here we go for my HISTORY TAG.

1. Go to Wikipedia and type in your birthday without the year:

April 27

2. List 3 events that occurred that day:

1667 - The blind, impoverished John Milton sells the copyright of Paradise Lost for £10. (I can feel his financial pain, Oh, the difficulty at finding a well-paying publisher!)

1810 - Beethoven composes his famous piano piece, Für Elise. (One of the few classica pieces of music I can still play!)

1911 - Following the resignation and death of William P. Frye, a compromise is reached to rotate the office of President pro tempore of the United States Senate. (Hey, Frye is the maiden name of my great-grandmother. I wonder if we are related to this guy?)

3. List 2 important birthdays:

1759 - Mary Wollstonecraft, English author (d. 1797) (Here’s woman I’d heard of, but never read. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about her: “Wollstonecraft is best known for A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), in which she argues that women are not naturally inferior to men, but only appear to be because they lack education.” Since education is very important to me, I think I like her way of thinking.

1899 - Walter Lantz, American cartoonist (d. 1994) (I chose him because my older brother used to go around the house singing the theme song to The Woody Woodpecker Show, a character created by Lantz.)

4. List 1 death:

· 1882 - Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist (b. 1803) (In keeping with the literary theme.)

5. List 1 holiday or observance:

· Finland: Veterans' Day (In honor of Annette who tagged me!)

Now for tagging other bloggers: (I know, I’m supposed to tag 5 people, not 2. I have a problem though—all the other bloggers I know have already BEEN tagged in this game!)

Heather Moore
Margy Layton

Non-Fiction: Just the Facts

Here’s a list of the top ten non-fiction books I’ve read with or recommended to my junior high school students. The kids have told me they loved them.

Ayer, Eleanor. Parallel Journeys. Aladdin, 2000.
The stories of two WWII youths, one a German Jew and the other a Hitler Youth, and how each of them viewed the world of their time. The text is excerpted from their published memoirs.

Barron, Tom. To Walk in Wilderness. Westcliffe Publishers, 1993.
A photo journal accompanied by poetry and journal entries about a month-long journey into the Colorado mountain wilds.

Crowe, Chris. Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case. Dial, 2003.
While researching a book about Mildred D. Taylor, Crowe first learned about Till. Unable to rest without this story being told, the author wrote a children’s novel, Mississippi Trial 1955, the story of a white boy who becomes interested in the trial. But more needed to be explained and this non-fiction book tells the rest.

Frank, Anne. The Diary of a Young Girl. Pocket, 1990.
Everyone should read Anne’s entire diary at least once in their life. There is so much more here than what the play gives students, and understanding the fear of oppression and those who fight for right in the world is just as important today as it was during WWII.

Hickam, Homer. October Sky: A Memoir. Dell, 1999. (also known as Rocket Boys)
Inspired by Werner von Braun and his Cape Canaveral team, 14-year-old Homer Hickam decided in 1957 to build his own rockets. They were his ticket out of Coalwood, West Virginia, a mining town that everyone knew was dying--everyone except Sonny's father, the mine superintendent and a company man so dedicated that his family rarely saw him. A beautiful movie, but even more beautiful memoir.

King, Stephen. On Writing. Pocket, 2002.
A must for any student who would like to improve writing skills. A former English teacher and Best-Selling author, King takes readers through his personal history as well as giving specific advice on writing marketable pieces.

Paulsen, Gary. Caught by the Sea: My Life on Boats. Laurel-Leaf, 2003.
Through this book, fans will enjoy learning about his attraction to the sea and how Paulsen came to live on the sloop Felicity where he wrote the novel Brian=s Winter. The danger he has experienced is real and makes for a great non-fiction read.

Paulsen, Gary. How Angel Peterson Got His Name. Yearling, 2004.
Although Paulsen’s non-fiction is not always squeeky clean, readers will identify with the short pieces in this book as Paulsen recounts his 13th year "of wonderful madness" and extreme sports of the day when he and his friends tried to shoot a waterfall in a barrel, break the world record for speed on skis, hang glide with an Army surplus parachute, and perform other dare-devilish stunts.

Sparks, Dr. Beatrice. Annie's Baby: The Diary of Anonymous, a Pregnant Teenager. Avon, 2004.
Annie, 14, falls in love with wealthy 16-year-old Danny, who takes her to drinking parties, rapes her, then becomes physically and emotionally abusive. Then Annie discovers she is pregnant and must decide what to do.

Ten Boom, Corrie. The Hiding Place. Bantam, 1984.
The true story about the Ten Boom family who hid Jews during WWII and then got sent to a concentration camp themselves.

Graphic Novels: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Kids like picture books, even when they grow up to be teenagers. And the picture books are growing up right along side them. Among the hottest books being published and purchased today are graphic novels. Longer than a comic book, but illustrated in the same manner, graphic novels are a great way for the visual learner to be exposed to the same types of stories and vocabulary that one would gain from a regular novel. If you’ve never read a graphic novel before, here are a few suggested titled to get you started.

Brigman, June and Richardson, Roy. Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty Puffin Graphics, 2005.
This version runs true to the original class novel in tone and art. The story of a horse: gentle, spirited, swift and steady. When his kind owners are forced to sell him, Black Beauty finds himself in a world not so refined.

Cavallaro, Michael. L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: The Graphic Novel. Puffin Graphics, 2005.
Take the classic children’s book, stir in a little touch of the MGM movie, and add a
Manga touch and you have this story retold for today’s reader.

Greyson, Devin. X Men: Revolution. Marvel Digests, 2003.
Color version of the X-Men team, how they were gathered, and the special skills that make them valuable to society. Based on the television episodes.

Hamilton, Tim. Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. Puffin Graphics, 2005.
Another graphic that remains true to the original classic, this one is a must for those who are seeking even more on pirates.

Holm, Jennifer. L. Babymouse: Our Hero! Random House, 2005.
Babymouse is terrified by the upcoming dodge ball tournament. Once again, Felicia Furrypaws is good at something that Babymouse is not, but this time, Babymouse is ready.

Holm, Jennifer. L. Babymouse: Queen of the World! Random House, 2005
Babymouse has a problem—she wants to be popular. But her arch nemesis, Felicia Furrypaws, is out to make sure that Babymouse doesn’t get her secret dream fulfilled.
.
Lobdell, Scott. Hardy Boys #1: Ocean of Osyria. Papercutz/Simon & Schuster, 2005.
MG, 96 pgs. 1597070017, $7.95.
“Frank and Joe Hardy, with Cathy and Iolam search for stolen Mid-Eastern art treasure, the Ocean of Osyeria to free their best friend, Chet Morton.”

Reed, Gary. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: The Graphic Novel. Puffin Graphics, 2005.
MG, 176 pgs. 0142404071, $10.99.
The classic tale of Dr. Victor Frankenstein, the monster he creates, and the long-lasting repercussions of abandoning his creation.

Smith, Jeff. Bone: Out from Boneville. Scholastic, 2005.
This is a compilation of the original comic books which follow the adventures of three blobby creatures who have stumbled into a valley full of monsters, magic, farmers, an exiled princess and a huge, cynical dragon.

Speigleman, Art. Maus: A Survivor’s Tale and Here My Troubles Begin. Pantheon, 1996.
The author retells his father’s experiences as a Holocaust survivor. Mature language and situations may not make this appropriate for all age levels.

Top Ten Books to Read Aloud

No matter how old, kids still like to be read to. Here are ten of the best books I’ve found to read aloud or listen to on audio with teenagers.

Cormier, Robert. The Rag and Bone Shop. Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2001.
A seven-year-old girl is found dead—a suspected murder. But who did it? The special investigator who is called in is an expert at getting a confession out of his suspect. But what if twelve-year-old Jason really is innocent and Trent is just trying to save his reputation? (Do a little pre-editing for implied content.)

DeFelice, Cynthia. Weasel. Harper Trophy, 1991.
A ruthless villain known as Weasel commits unspeakable atrocities in the frontier wilderness. When 12-year-old Nathan's family is victimized, the boy is determined to avenge the wrongs on his own.

Horowitz, Anthony. Stormbreaker: An Alex Rider Adventure
When Alex Rider’s guardian uncle is killed in an automobile accident, Alex discovers that his uncle was really a spy killed on the job. Alex is taken into the agency in an effort to solve the crime Ian was investigating that involves a gift of computers to all British school children.

Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Among the Hidden. Simon & Schuster BYR, 2006.
Luke was a third child, hidden away from the world for fear the Population Police would find out about him and kill him. The series continues with: Among the Imposters, Among the Betrayed, Among the Barons, Among the Brave, and Among the Free. Works with Anne Frank and the Holocaust.

Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Escape from Memory Simon & Schuster BYR, 2003.
At a sleepover, Kira agrees to let her friends hypnotize her, but she reveals a buried memory of fleeing from danger with her mother and speaking in a language none of them understands. Then her mother disappears, and a woman shows up claiming to be Kira's benevolent Aunt Memory from a community called Crythe.

Plummer, Louise. The Unlikely Romance of Kate Bjorkman. Laurel-Leaf, 2005.
Kate Bjorkman narrates her tale of teen romance in the language and conventions of The Romance Writer's Handbook. This six-foot tall heroine with glasses thick as Coke bottles and an I.Q. off the charts proves that true love awaits even the gawkiest, most socially inept teen.

Taylor, Theodore. Lord of the Kill. Scholastic, 2004.
Sequel to Sniper. Ben is once again left in charge of the wild animal preserve when someone dumps a young woman into a cat cage where she is found dead. Ben must solve the crime before the authorities try to shut down the preserve.

White, Robb. Deathwatch. Laurel-Leaf, 1973.
Always a winner with reluctant readers. Ben is earning money by taking people on hunting trips, but this trip goes all wrong. When Madec shoots an old prospector, he wants to cover up the accident so he can get his bighorn sheep. Ben refuses and finds himself being hunted.

Williams, Carol Lynch. My Angelica. Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 1999.
Sage and George, two wannabe-authors secretly enamored with each other, plan to enter the school writing competition. Sage is eager to enter her "steamy" novel-in-progress, but George knows her writing is awful and wants to spare his beloved a humiliating loss.

Zindel, Paul. The Doom Stone. Hyperion, 2004.
Well-written thriller/horror set in Stonehenge. Jackson arrives in England to help his anthropologist aunt track down a murderous beast, a mutant hominid.

Top Ten Hot Teen Picks

I’ll be speaking this week at the UVSC Forum on Children’s Literature. If any of you are going be sure to stop in my workshop and catch the updated version of these lists. These are the top ten books my students were talking about last year.

Brashares, Ann. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2003.
They were just an ordinary pair of thrift-shop jeans until the four close girlfriends took turns trying them on.

Hale, Shannon. Princess Academy. Bloomsbury, 2005.
The thought of being a princess never occurred to the girls living on Mount Eskel. When it is announced that the prince will choose a bride from their village, Miri, believes this is her opportunity to prove her worth to her father.

Hiassen, Carl. Hoot. Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2004.
Roy is the new kid in town, and it’s the same old routine: bullies like Dana pushing him around. But if it wasn't for Dana, Roy might never have seen the running boy, met Beatrice, discovered the burrowing owls, or had the adventure of a lifetime.

Levine, Gail Carson. Ella Enchanted. Harper Trophy, 1998.
At birth, Ella is inadvertently cursed by an imprudent fairy named Lucinda, who bestows on her the "gift" of obedience. Anything anyone tells her to do, Ella must obey. A Cinderella story.

Lewis, C. S. The Chronicles of Narnia series. Harper Collins, 2004.
Four children travel repeatedly to a world in which they are far more than mere children and everything is far more than it seems. One of the few book sets that should be read three times: in childhood, early adulthood, and late in life. (Watch for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian in theaters 2008.)

Meyer, Stephanie. Twilight. Megan Tingley, 2005.
Headstrong, sun-loving, 17-year-old Bella declines her mom's invitation to move to Florida, and instead reluctantly moves to her dad's cabin in the dreary, rainy town of Forks, Washington, where she becomes intrigued with Edward Cullen, a distant, stylish, and disarmingly handsome senior, who is also a vampire.

Paolini, Christopher. Eldest. Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2005.
Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, have survived the battle at Tronjheim, but their challenges are not over. Galbatorix, the corrupt emperor, still rules Alagaesia and is looking for them. The magically bonded pair must help the rebellious Varden regroup after their leader is slain.

Shan, Darrin. Cirque Du Freak series. Little Brown, 2002.
Evil begins to win when Darren and his buddies find a flier for "Cirque Du Freak," a traveling freak show promising performances by Larten Crepsley and his giant spider, Madame Octa. Darren and his friend Steve wouldn't miss it for the world.

Skye, Obert. Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo (Aladdin, 2006)
Leven can glimpse and manipulate the future. According to the other characters—Winter, a girl who can freeze things instantly; Clover, a foot-high furry creature assigned as Lev's companion; and Geth, the wise but displaced king of Foo—Levan is also the only person who can protect the gateway to Foo, a place whose existence allows humans to dream, hope and imagine.
Westerfield, Scott. Uglies. Scholastic, 2005.
Tally Youngblood lives in a futuristic society that teaches its citizens to believe they are ugly until age 16 when they'll undergo an operation that will change them into pleasure-seeking "pretties." When Tally meets Shay, another female ugly, she has decisions to make that might change her future.

Top 10 Favorite Books for Adolescents

I speak at a lot of conferences and workshops for educators, and one of the favorite parts of my presentation both for me and for my audiences is when I give book talks. Here’s a list of my favorite books that I talked about in a workshop last summer. Maybe you’ll enjoy reading them too.

Auch, Mary Jane. Ashes of Roses. Laurel-Leaf, 2004.
Immigrants, Rose Nolan and her younger sister are left to care for themselves in America and must go to work in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory to survive. Rose makes friends with Gussie, whose father is a union organizer. And then, the infamous fire breaks out.

Ferguson, Alane. The Christopher Killer. Viking Juvenile, 2006.
Cameryn wants to be a forensic pathologist and follow in her father’s footsteps as the county coroner. When he allows her to join him, she proves she has a knack for detective work. But the next case is a murder, and the victim is one of her friends.

Funke, Cornelia. Inkheart. Scholastic Paperbacks, 2005.
A novel for the true bibliophile, filled with literary allusions, readers will enjoy the journey as they travel along with Meggie who has just discovered her father’s secret ability: he can read characters out of books and into the modern world. Unfortunately, he seems to have read Meggie’s mother into the book “Inkheart” several years before.

Holm, Jennifer. Boston Jane: An Adventure. Harper Collins, 2001.
Although Jane Peck is happy with her tomboy lifestyle, she wishes she could capture the attention of the handsome William Baldt before he moves to the great northwest. When an
invitation to join him and become his wife arrives, Jane’s life will be changed forever.

Kerr, P. B. The Children of the Lamp: The Akhenaten Adventure. Orchard, 2004.
Twins John and Philippa learn their true identity as children from a long line of Djinn, capable of granting three wishes to each person who releases them from their lamp or other temporary home. Soon they must use their new powers to overcome an ancient Egyptian pharaoh and his seventy djinn who will change the entire world if they are released into the wrong hands.

Naples, Donna Jo, The King of Mulberry Street. Wendy Lamb Books, 2005.
When Beniamino, a nine-year-old Jewish boy from Napoli, is smuggled aboard a cargo ship heading to America in 1892, he assumes his mother is onboard, too, but he has a lot to learn once he reaches New York. The streets are not safe and the food is scarce, unless you know how to survive.

Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds. Blizzard’s Wake. Atheneum, 2002.
Set in the 1941 North Dakota blizzard, the novel weaves together the story of Kate Sterling, who is still trying to cope with the death of her mother four years earlier, and Zeke Dexter, the drunk driver who killed her mom.

Ritter, John H. Choosing Up Sides. Puffin Books, 2000.
In 1921 society looked upon being left-handed as a sign of the devil. Twelve-year-old Luke is left-handed and discovers he has a natural talent for throwing a baseball. He is also the son of a preacher who sees both left-handedness and baseball as of the devil.

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Scholastic, 2006.
In the latest episode, Harry is faced with Lord Voldemort’s Death-Eaters, even in the Muggle world. he leaves for Hogwarts with the promise of private wizardry lessons from Dumbledore, but once again, Harry is not sure who he can trust, and who he can’t.

Rook, Sebastian. Vampire Plagues: London 1850. Scholastic, 2005.
When a ship from Mexico docks in London a flock of bats and a young boy are the only living things on board. A London street urchin, Jack Harkett, hears the boy’s tales of a vampire plague that's killed the entire crew.

UCET Conference Day One

Wow! I've had such a great day at the UCET (Utah Coalition for Educational Techonlogy) Conference. I attended a keynote and three sessions by David Warlick (Consultant, Speaker, Author, and computer guru extraordinaire) took pages of notes, and learned so much already to improve my blog, e-zine, and website. Now I can hardly wait to start a wiki!

All this excitement from the person who once said, "Why do I need to learn to use a computer? I'll never use one in my life." Ah, the wisdom of youth and the irony of famous last words.

So, I'm trying out some of what I learned and if I've done it right, a photo of me listening to David Warlick present should show up here at the bottom of this blog entry. Keeping my fingers crossed!

http://l.yimg.com/www.flickr.com/images/spaceball.gif

Writers Are No Better Than Their First Line

I attended the Nebo Reading Council Young Writer’s Conference yesterday and heard a wonderful piece of advice in a talk by author Carol Lynch Williams. She quoted author Richard Peck (Here Lies the Librarian): “Writers are no better than their first line.” To continue his thought, Carol said the first line of a novel should “grab the reader first, tell who the character is, and establish there is a problem.”

I decided to look over some first lines from a few of my favorite books and discovered this is indeed the case.

“Somehow I knew my time had come when Bambi Barnes tore her order book into little pieces, hurled it in the air like confetti, and got fired from the Rainbow Diner in Pensacola right in the middle of lunchtime rush.” - Hope was Here by Joan Bauer

“If your teacher has to die, August isn't a bad time of year for it.” - The Teachers Funeral by Richard Peck

“The bargain was quickly made between my mother and the witch.”.- Mira Mirror by Mette Harrison

“I wasn't even all the way home and I could hear it”. - A Mother to Embarrass Me by Carol Lynch Williams

“I grew up with my left hand tied behind my back.” - Choosing Up Sides by John H. Ritter.

So, I decided to look again at the current drafts of my own novels.

“Watch me, Leona. I’m Miss Tarantula, mysterious tight rope walker of Madagascar!”- Leona and Me, Helen Marie

“I was named after a movie star.” - Just Like Elizabeth Taylor

“Vickie and I had been waiting for this night for three weeks.” - A Note Worth Taking

"’A new world. Just saying the words brings a fire to my belly,’ Felipe Marco said, his fists resting on his hips.” - Tides Against the Sea

“Anita and I had made a plan on the phone: Think sophomore.” - an as yet unnamed novel in progress.

Maybe I’m more confident than I should be, but I think my opening lines follow both Carol and Richard’s advice. If my first lines can meet the test, then I guess there is hope for the rest of my novel. Now, if I can only find an editor or agent who agrees with me.

The Law of Attraction

Everybody’s talking about it. Colleagues at work. People on the street. All the self-help motivator gurus from Oprah to Robert Allen, Wayne Dyer to Jack Canfield, Dr. John Grey to Dr. Phil. Everyone seems to know the secret to success—or path to failure—can be found in the law of attraction.

I’ve been proving that the law works for a long time in my life, but two very vivid examples have come to our family in the last few weeks. Both came quickly to fruition, and in the most unexpected ways.

Several weeks ago one of my co-workers—a believer herself in the law of attraction—brought around a basket of fortune cookies to each of the teachers in my building. I chose one at random and opened the message to read: “A long-lost friend will re-enter your life and re-establish a friendship.” That afternoon—less than 6 hours later—an old friend whom I had lost contact with called my house and talked with my husband. “Is this still LuAnn’s house?” She had located an old Rolodex card with my name, phone number, and address and decided to give me a call. Later, when I came home from work, she called back, we chatted and renewed old friendship ties, and made arrangements to see each other when she came on a trip to Utah. That visit was yesterday, and it’s nice to say the law of attraction worked in a most pleasant way.

The other example actually happened with my husband. A week ago on a Friday night, he commented that he wished our oldest son would stay home more often. As a seventeen-year-old, this son thinks he should be out gadding around every moment of the day, to the point he seems more of a border than a member of the family. The next afternoon, both my husband and I got emergency phone calls. A snow boarding accident and a lacerated spleen have taken their toll again—two years ago this same son had the same injury for the same reason at the same ski resort. Is this his own law of attraction?—and now this boy must stay home for two solid weeks, then he must spend another six weeks in limited activity which includes parental supervision at all times. Perhaps not a happy time for him, but it’s exactly what my husband wished for.

If you haven’t heard about the law of attraction before, maybe you should check into it. You never know what you might be drawing into your life without being aware. As for me, I’m working on keeping those positive thoughts in action—funding for my movie, a book contract or two, a giant influx of money. Hey, it all sounds good. Now if I can only locate that bottle where I’ve stored my genie. . .

Making Progress

Do you ever feel like you’re just spinning your wheels in the sand? That’s how I feel most of the time anymore it seems, even though I know I’m actually making progress. The stack of papers on my desk at school diminished by two whole class sets this week, I finished reading two books I needed to review, and I managed to write both newspaper columns this morning in less than an hour.

When I forget how much I really have accomplished, I take a minute to look over my planner and submission calendar, then give myself a pat on the back. Too often we let all the things we still need to do overshadow all the things we’ve already done.

Each of us is given the same amount of time each day. It’s up to us how we use it. As for me, I’m making progress today with my “To Do” list. Only five hundred and fifty-seven more things to do before I go to bed tonight.

Actually, I’m just kidding because I just checked off this blog, so now I have one less thing to do!

Swimming in the Ocean of Paperwork

The end of the first semester and I’m still drowning in papers, papers, papers. It’s amazing how many papers 150 or so students can create at the end of a term—especially when they procrastinate and turn everything in at the last minute. Oh, how I love those students who finish their play reviews or reading logs early and hand them in weeks before the final deadline.

Final grades are finished and entered into the computer—a process which only crashed twice this time. Yippee and hallelujah. This week, I look forward to reading the very first literacy analysis papers my 9th grade honor English students have ever written. Based on the ones they volunteered to read aloud, the process shouldn’t be too painful to withstand.

I’ll actually have a little time to read them leisurely because my student teacher will be taking over a few class periods throughout the week. I threw him into the saddle for a little bit of time last week—letting him get a taste of reading a short story aloud and playing a well-organized vocabulary game. Now it’s time to throw him into the pool and watch him sink or swim. I have a feeling this one’s going to swim with no problem.

Now if I can only make it through the ocean of work I have awaiting me as my own new semester of graduate classes swing into full gear. If only the stack of edits awaiting my own work don’t overtake the computer keyboard like a tsunami, I should be back again next week.

Happy New Year!

Okay, okay, so I’m six days late with my greeting, but what do you expect when life is as busy and crazy as mine, not to mention the sinus infection that decided to strike right over the Christmas holiday! No doctors available until the entire weekend and present-opening was over. But I won’t complain because the wonderful world of modern medicine had me sleeping through the night and breathing through my nose again in a matter of hours. Yippee!

Today is Saturday and so far I’ve written and submitted—ya gotta love the advent of e-mail—two newspaper columns—one to the Press and the other to the News. I arose early and finished a piece to send to Chicken Soup for the Sister and Brother’s Soul, then read through their updated list of needs and sent an essay previously completed to the Chicken Soup for the Dating Soul submission pile. I submitted a proposal to speak at the National Council of Teacher’s of English conference next November in New York City—now there’s my idea of a fun time of year to visit the Big Apple, when temperatures average 42°. I dropped another essay into a book I’m writing for English teachers called Teaching Secondary English: One Day at a Time, sent an e-mail blast with a free book guide to add my e-zine subscribers and a collection of other potential subscribers I’d been collecting, then whipped up a couple of book guides to bring Volume 2 of Books, Books and More Books: A Parent and Teacher’s Guide to Adolescent Literature closer to completion by it’s summer target date. I dashed off a few additional e-mails—some personal and others business—and called it a pretty good writing day.

Of course, I took some time off to take a son to his basketball game. They lost but he played great, even though he’s still bummed that his team didn’t win the game. I had wanted to go to a movie, but the times didn’t coincide with the rest of the family’s plans, so my husband and four of the boys are seeing a film I didn’t care about while I work at the computer and my youngest screams at SpongeBob who is doing his usual silliness on the upstairs TV.

I wonder if all of this has anything to do with the fact that I suddenly want nothing more than to take a nap? But, instead I think I’ll start to update my website then take a good book—Give ‘em What They Want: The Right Way to Pitch Your Novel to Editors and Agents is calling out to me—upstairs for a little light reading before time to turn in for the evening.

Gossamer
by Lois Lowry
(Houghton Mifflin, 2006)

Sweet dreams or nightmares—and such are the stuff of dreams as Lowry introduces readers to the dream-givers who creep around dark houses at night, collecting memories which they then bestow upon the humans as they dream, and their counterparts, the wicked Sinisteeds who give nightmares and sometimes travel in Hordes.

Littlest is enthusiastic about her work; Fastidious is tired and impatient, not at all a good match for a trainer and a trainee. Littlest only wants to collect more, hoping to give pleasant dreams to the old woman who lives with her dog, Toby, in the house where Littlest is assigned, but Fastidious won’t hear of it. Then Littlest is paired with a new partner, Thin Elderly, who is a much better guide and teacher. When the old woman takes in a foster child, John, who wants to return to his mother, Littlest might be the only one who can help them all bring their best dreams into reality.

Young readers might be confused at first by the alternating points of view.

Boston Jane: Wilderness Days
by Jennifer L. Holm
(Harper Collins: 2002)

Jane is tired of living among a group smelly, ill-mannered men, so she prepares her return to Philadelphia and her father, but just as she is ready to board the ship bound for home, Jane receives news that her father has passed away in Boston. Is seems that Washington Territory's Shoalwater Bay is now the only home she has, and she’s not sure how much longer she can stand it.

When Jane inadvertently puts a friend's life in danger, she joins Jehu and Kee-ukso, a Chinook Indian, on a trek through the wilds and a winter snowstorm to warn her friend someone is intent on killing him. Add to Jane’s difficulties her jealousy over the new woman in town, Mrs. Frink, and the problem with William Baldt, Jane’s former fiancé who plans to move all the Indians to a reservation, and Jane has a lot to overcome before she feels she truly belongs in Shoalwater Bay.

Another exciting read from an interesting series.

Boston Jane: The Claim
by Jennifer L. Holm
(Harper Trophy: 2004)

In the time Jane Peck has lived in the Shoalwater Bay area she has taken charge of her own life and even become the concierge for the hotel run by Mr. and Mrs. Frink, a woman who Jane has made into a friend. Life seems perfect—Jane’s love for Jehu has grown, she has friends, and she even has a claim on a large piece of property where Jehu is building her a house of her own. But then, her old rival, Sally Biddle, arrives and immediately sets about to make Jane’s life just as miserable as it was back in Philadelphia when they attended finishing school together. Add to that the return of William Baldt, the man who asked Jane to marry him then married an Indian woman instead, who now threatens to take her land, and soon Jane fears even those who are her friends might become her enemy.

Readers will feel Jane’s pain as she struggles against Sally’s nastiness, William’s political position, and the loss of friendships, no matter how brief.

Mississippi Trial, 1955
by
Chris Crowe
(Phylis Fogelman Books, ISBN 0-8037-2745-3)

The Civil Rights Movement. Search the topic on the internet or in a history textbook and the names Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X are prominent. The Montgomery Bus Boycott, Freedom Rides, and the March on Washington are listed as important events in the forward movement of the cause. But one name and event is often missing in the story: Emmett Till, a fourteen-year-old black boy from Chicago who was brutally murdered, his body dumped in the Tallahatchie River, for allegedly whistling at a white woman. While doing an interview for a biography titled Presenting Mildred D. Taylor, BYU professor Chris Crowe first heard about Emmett Till and knew it was a story that must be shared.

Told though the eyes of Hiram Hillburn, a white teenager who has come to stay the summer with his grandfather, the reader is taken into the heart of racism at a time when the passions of the south were volatile and violent. Hiram sees changes in his beloved south, his friends, and even his grandfather; changes which make him doubt his own safety. Hiram witnesses R.C. Rydell force Emmett to eat a raw fish at knife-point. Hiram’s grandfather offers no sympathy, warning that “colored boys like Emmett should know better than to push himself on white folks.” After Emmett is murdered, Hiram doesn’t want to stay silent, he wants the truth to be told, even if it uncovers secrets about his own family.

Parents should read this book along with their teens and discuss the issue of racism as it stands in our country today and what can be done to prevent it.

Everything on a Waffle
by
Polly Horvath
(Farrar Straus Giroux, ISBN 0-374-32236-8)

Primrose Squarp refuses to believe that her parents have drowned at sea. Because the townspeople of Coal Habour will not continue to pay her elderly babysitter’s hourly wage, Primrose’s Uncle Jack resigns from the navy and becomes a real estate developer in the small community. Although populated by eccentrics, Coal Harbour provides the education and comfort Primrose needs as she waits for her parents’ return. Primrose loves to eat at The Girl in the Red Swing, where she hears the town gossip and learns how to make her favorite recipes, which she shares at the end of each chapter.

This novel is a fun light read, especially appropriate for the younger reader. You might want to try out some of the recipes as well.

Brothers in Valor
by Michael O. Tunnell
(Holiday House; 0-8234-1541-4)

Hamburg, Germany, 1937. Rudi Ollenick, the narrator, and his best friends, Karl Schneider and Helmuth Guddat, German boys, are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints. The boys aren’t sure how they can follow the teachings of their church, yet still be good German citizens, willing to follow the Führer.

When the boys are forced to join Hitler’s youth group, they learn about the ruthless and violent ways of the Nazis and begin to formulate a plan to spread the truth among the German people. The flyers they print and distribute put them in danger, but all three boys are willing to take the risk, even if it means they lose their lives.

Tunnell, a Brigham Young University School of Education professor, has based his story on personal interviews, published biographies, and Nazi archival records, bringing to life the story of three heroes who had to decide on whose side they would stand.

Say You Are My Sister
by Laurel Stowe Brady
(HarperCollins; ISBN: 0060283084) Twelve-year-old

Mony Keddrington turns to her older half-sister Georgie for comfort and strength when their mother is killed by a tornado. She doesn’t look much like Georgie, but that doesn’t matter to Mony who has learned from her Pa that “family is family.”

On a trip to town, Mony witnesses the realities of racial issues in her Georgia town when the barber is thrown through the plate glass window of his shop for giving a black man a haircut, a crime under the Jim Crow laws.

When their Pa is killed by a bull, the girls are determined to take care of themselves and their baby sister, Keely Faye. Magnolia Hewitt would like to take Keely Faye to raise as her own and she uses her position as the banker’s wife to attempt to force Georgie to give up the baby. Mony begins to learn who Georgie really is as they struggle to keep their family together.

Brady’s story is entertaining, as well as important as it looks into our country's history of racial discrimination.

Ruby Holler
by Sharon Creech
(Joanna Cotler Books; ISBN: 0060277327)

Dallas and Florida Carter are thirteen-year-old twins who have been passed from orphanage-to-home-to-orphanage-to-home-and-back-again so many times it’s hard to keep count. When they come to live with an older couple, Tiller and Sairy Morey in Ruby Holler, the children don’t trust that their luck may have changed.

The twins plan to run away, saving their money, but they find it hard to leave the new life they are living. Tiller and Sairy sure don’t treat them anything like the parents at the previous foster homes who couldn’t wait to send them back to the orphanage. Maybe the twins should stick around awhile, just to see what happens. But what if the couple who own the orphanage get in the way if the twins decide to stay?

Creech’s down-home, comfy way of storytelling makes you feel like you’re yearning for a home of your own, just like Dallas and Florida.

Wild Man Island
by Will Hobbs
(Harpercollins Juvenile Books; ISBN: 0688174736)

If you like adventure, danger, and the excitement of uncharted territory, then this book by Will Hobbs is for you.

Fourteen-year-old Andy Galloway is on a quest. He has joined a kayaking trip in Alaska, hoping to visit the place where his archeologist father was killed. Andy sneaks away from the group and travels the two miles to the location. He leaves a tribute to his father, but when he starts to return to the group, he is unaware a storm is brewing.

His kayak crashes and Andy finds himself washed ashore on Admiralty Island, a wilderness. Andy encounters wolves, bear, a Newfoundland dog, and a wild man. Who is this man and where did he come from? Is he the last of those who originally inhabited this island or someone lost at sea, like Andy?

Typical of Hobbs’ style, the reader will find an exciting story, laced with factual information about Admiralty Island and early human migration.

A Mother to Embarrass Me
by Carol Lynch Williams
Delacorte Press; ISBN: 0385729227

No matter your age, you can probably remember a time (or ten, or twenty) when you were embarrassed by your mother. Her words, dress, actions all combined to humiliate you in front of your friends, or worst of all, the love of your life. No matter what you tried to do to stop
her, Mom only became more embarrassing by the minute and you thought you'd never be able to face the world again.

Twelve-year-old Laura Stephan feels the same way and keeps a list of all the things she would like to change about her mother. But her mom doesn't mean to be embarrassing. She just wants to stay good friends with the daughter she loves. She'd do anything to keep Laura happy, but her best efforts all seem to be wrong.

How could Mom have known Dad would hurt his neck while break-dancing at Laura's party? So what if Mom and Christian talked about Laura behind her back? Why should Laura be concerned that Mom has a modeling job while several months pregnant? Will the birth of the baby make things better or worse? Williams takes a humorous look at mother/daughter relationships that are cross-generational.

A great read for a mother/daughter book club, a teen or pre-teen who feels embarrassed by her own mother, or a mother who wants to understand her emotion-packed daughter a little bit better.

Book Review: Twilight by Stepheni Meyer
(Little, Brown and Company: 2005)

Romeo and Juliet. Tony and Maria. Pyramus and Thisbe. Lancelot and Guinevere. Tristan and Isolde. Anakin and Padmé. And now, Bella and Edward. These star-crossed lovers are doomed from the start. Bella, a 17-year-old new-kid-in-school, meets Edward, an incredibly beautiful, yet aloof vampire, nearly 100-years-old.

Before she can stop herself, Bella is in love and the differences in their lives don’t seem to matter to a girl who is smitten, despite the fact her new boyfriend--or other vampires that he knows-- could kill her at any moment.

Although this book is hot, hot, hot among teen readers, I was bothered by the fact that Bella seems to have no reaction to the truth about Edward other than that she loves him. Isn't she ever afraid? Does she want to become like him? I know fiction is about being able to suspend disbelief, but I still didn't buy the outcome of this story.

Book Review: Store-Bought Baby by Sandra Belton (Greenwillow, 2006)

Although her parents call Luce’s death an accident, Leah thinks she knows the truth—Luce meant to kill himself by driving too fast on a rain-slicked road. Soon, finding the whole truth becomes Leah’s purpose when she searches for Luce’s birth parents. Along with her best friend and Luce’s girlfriend, Leah follows the trail to the Rock-a-Bye agency where Leah discovers that only family and friendships can heal her loss.

Despite the use of a first person narrative, I never knew as much about Leah as I did about the all-too-perfect Luce. As an adoptive parent myself, I thought the neighbors’ comments about adoption seemed too abundant after sixteen years to be realistic, and the book title was never fully supported by the text.

Teenagers will empathize with Leah’s yearning to know that she is as important to her parents as Luce was. The relationship she develops with her mother is satisfying.

To buy this book, click on:

Welcome Back to Another School Year

Whether you are a teacher, student, parent or just someone who remembers being one of those, it’s time for yet another year of school to begin. Our local school district began classes on Tuesday two weeks ago. The library media graduate classes I’m taking started this past Tuesday. And, for some of my students, the countdown to the last day has already begun!

The beginning of this year means I’ve now spent 43 years of my life in a classroom as either a student or a teacher. Students might not realize that they have a definite advantage over teachers. After twelve years of school, students at least GRADUATE! Teachers are there until they meet the requirements for retirement.

So, what is a teacher’s life really like? A brand new school year brings lots of new children to learn names for, lesson plans to design, changes in curriculum as dictated by state or local boards of education, and starting all over with teaching policies and procedures to a new crop of students. The days fly by, but sometimes the weeks seem to drag for teachers just like they do for students.

In reality, school is not much different from year to year. No matter what your perspective—teacher, student, or parent— it becomes your goal to make this school year the best one ever. I hope my blogs, E-zines, and newspaper columns give you ideas that will make this true for your classroom or experiences at home as you help children work on reading.

One thing I plan to do it update this blog more often with book reviews. I read an incredible number of books each year and write reviews for my newspaper columns, E-zine, and various teacher publications. I want to make the reviews more available to my student readers as well. By posting them here on the blog, my students will be able to access them too.

Of course, as a writer, I am still working like a fiend, packing in as much writing as I can around both teaching and studying. In the last few weeks I’ve accomplished the following:

1. Written both of my newspaper columns, "Read All About It" and "Out of the Best Books."
2. Updated my blog and sent out issues of my E-zine.
3. Submitted an op-ed piece to the Wall Street Journal.
4. Submitted a query to Covenant Communications.
5. Submitted three book reviews to SIGNAL Journal.
6. Wrote an article on Self-Editing for Byline Magazine.
7. Submitted a spec script to a producer.

And, I'd say it is starting to pay off. I've had the following postive results happen as a result:

1. Disney Press is keeping me on file for a possible upcoming project.
2. A producer has sent me an option on a film script I wrote several years ago.
3. I got my check from Byline and received the magazine with my article.

A few of my friends have been a little jealous and amazed at how much I’ve been able to write in such a short time. Actually, what I’ve always found is that when I give myself an impossible deadline, I reach it. That’s what I’ve been doing with my reading and my writing. It works for me. Maybe it will work for some of you. I only have one question left at the end of the day--When will I ever be able to get some sleep?

As always, thanks for reading. Check back soon for my first book review.

Lu Ann

Summer Writing Marathon

I’m back! Boy, have I been busy since I last left a message at on my blog. I try to spend as much time as possible writing during my summer "vacation." Here’s a run down of what I’ve accomplished in this writing marathon, and maybe you’ll see why I haven’t have a second to update.

1. I organized all of my newspaper columns into a new book titled “Teaching Secondary Language Arts: One Day at a Time.” At 62,500 words, I’m sure you can see that proofreading alone took quite a bit of time.

2. I sent both “Teaching Secondary Language Arts: One Day at a Time” and a MG novel I’ve written, “Tides Against the Sea,” to the Utah Arts Council Original Writing Competition.

3. I wrote a 122 page film adaptation of an award-winning young adult novel and submitted both it and an original screenplay I had already written, “Terror in Dead Horse Canyon,” to the producers of the movie my husband recently worked on.

4. I collected critiques for a magazine article I’m working on from my writer’s group and have started to work on that rewrite.

5. I’ve been working on Volume 2 of “Books, Books, and More Books: A Parent and Teacher’s Guide to Adolescent Literature,” adding several new guides.

6. I’ve written both newspaper columns–“Read All About It” for the Spanish Fork Press and “Out of the Best Books” for the Spanish Fork News”--each week.

7. I’ve written a resource handbook for the workshop I’m teaching for Nebo School District called “Recipe for the Reluctant Reader: Add Reading Strategies to Young Adult Literature and Mix Well.” This workshop is aimed toward educators or anyone who is interested in helping kids improve their reading.

8. I took a few minutes to read the article I wrote for Byline Magazine (“Five Tips on Self-Editing”) which came out in their July/August issue.

9. I wrote and submitted an original script for a television series that was recently cancelled, hoping to bring this series back once its reruns move to ABC-FAM network this fall.

10. I wrote an opinion editorial on contemporary vs classic literature for students, and submitted it to the Wall Street Journal.

11. I wrote a script transcript and sample novelization chapter and submitted it to Disney Press for consideration.

12. And, I submitted a query letter for the book I am writing on LDS Temples.

So, add to all this mix of writing, the general things a mother and wife does around the house, church obligations, and family gatherings for the holiday, and a few days of computer problems (could it be overload?) and you’ll see why I’ve had trouble getting a blog out recently. I wonder if all of this typing has anything to do with the fact my carpel tunnel is acting up and my wrists are killing me?

Until next time,
Lu Ann

One Degree of Lu Ann Staheli

If you’ve ever played the popular game “The Seven Degrees of Kevin Bacon,” you probably know that the premise states because actor Kevin Bacon has been in so many movies, you can link him to almost any actor in seven or less steps.

An example from the internet illustrates: John Travolta was in “Look Who's Talking” with Kirstie Alley who was in “She's Having a Baby” with Kevin Bacon. (http://www.geocities.com/theeac/bacon.html).

Last week I went to the season wrap party for Everwood, the WB television series my husband works for. (http://thewb.warnerbros.com/web/show.jsp?id=EW) The entertainment included a woman reading life cards from a tarot deck. Although I’m not sure how much credence I put in the activity, my husband and I decided to have some fun and see what she had to say.

Imagine my surprise when she read my cards, telling me about how many people around the world either know me personally or recognize my name, and how they had been influenced by me. “You ARE Kevin Bacon,” the woman said. At first, we laughed, but then my husband and I started to realize that she might be right.

Here are a few of the lines of reasoning:

1. I have taught school for 27 years. In that time I’ve had over 6,280 students in either Indiana or Utah. They, of course, have moved on into their own adult lives—several are even teachers themselves with students of their own who learn from what I taught their teachers.

2. I worked for Alan Osmond Productions for 10 years, writing newsletters for both The Osmond Brothers and Osmonds: Second Generation. The newsletters went to hundreds of fan club members worldwide. I did a short stint writing for both Merrill Osmond and Marie Osmond’s newsletters as well.

3. I write book reviews for the SIGNAL Journal (a publication of the International Reading Association), The ALAN Review (a publication of the Adolescent Literature Association of the National Council of Teachers of English), and NCTE Selects program. These publications go to organization members all over the world. Twice I’ve run for national positions with NCTE and had my name and photos sent on ballots to them.

4. I published a chapter in Teaching Ideas for 7-12 English Language Arts: What Really Works from Christopher Gordon Publishers that language arts teachers might have read. I have colleagues who use my chapter in the college methods courses they teach to prospective language arts educators.

5. I was a Christa McAuliffe Fellow and presented my project at a special symposium in Washington D.C. I’ve presented at many other workshops for educators and writers as well. I was the Utah English Language Arts Teacher of the Year, and a nominee for the Disney Hands Award, Utah Reading Teacher of the Year, and listed in both Who’s Who Among America’s Outstanding Educators and Who’s Who Among Outstanding American Women, introducing me to members of those selection committees.

6. I’ve published in other national magazines, including Grit, Scouting, the LDS Church News, Superteen, and 16. I’ve placed in writing contests from Writer’s Digest, the Utah Arts Council Original Writing Competition for Juvenile novel, the League of Utah Writers annual writing competition, and the Montgomery-West Literary Talent Agency Competition. I earned the Diamond Quill Award for Collected Works from the League of Utah Writers and. was named the Utah Valley Chapter Writer of the Year.

7. I worked as a freelance editor for Covenant Communications, editing books for Rachel Nunes, Brenton Yorgason, Annette Pierce, Jennie Hansen, James Rada, and Charles Davis. I’m in a critique group with Covenant authors Jeffrey S. Savage, H. B. Moore, and Annette Lyon who have been gracious enough to list my name in the acknowledgments of their books.

8. I write two weekly newspaper columns that go to a bevy of subscribers, and even make their way onto the internet. Previously I was a freelance writer for two other newspapers with different readerships. Currently, I have a successful E-zine and this blog that takes my work to a wider audience.

9. I’m involved in the Utah Council of Teachers of English Language Arts, the League of Utah Writers, The Society for Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators, the International Reading Association, Assembly on Literature for Adolescents, the National Council of Teachers of English, Children’s Literature Association of Utah, and the Children’s Literature Association of Utah, as well as several local affiliates of these organizations.

10. I graduated from high school in Alexandria, Indiana. I graduated from college at Indiana University Bloomington. I’m an avid genealogist, who has attended church in Alexandria, Anderson, Bloomington, Terre Haute, and Brazil, Indiana, plus Orem, Provo, and Spanish Fork, Utah, when I have lived in or near those cities.

When you count up all the people I’ve met, even that number alone is astronomical. I have no way to ever know how many others might have “met” me though the work I have done. I still haven’t touched the surface here of all the daily contacts I make with friends, writers, neighbors, family, and students.

So perhaps the woman is right, I AM Kevin Bacon to hundreds of people who have lived on this earth.

By the way, my own connection to Kevin Bacon is as follows: Lu Ann Staheli did “Alan Osmond’s Stadium of Fire” for America’s Freedom Festival at Provo with Keshia Knight Pulliam who was in “Beauty Shop” with Kevin Bacon!

Welcome to My World

In the 35 days since I last posted a message on my blog, I’ve:

• taught 21 days of school
• read and reviewed 10 books
• written 6 newspaper columns
• started an e-mail list and sent 5 messages to the over 200 subscribers
• sent 6 query letters
• attended the 2 day Forum of Children’s Literature conference at UVSC
• presented at the Nebo Young Writer’s Conference
• participated in a Picture Book workshop taught by Rick Walton
• completed a night of parent teacher conferences for work
• attended a board meeting for the Utah Council of Teachers of English
• sat in a training session for foster parents
• posted final grades for over 125 students
• watched my sons play in 4 league championship basketball games
• kept track of my 5 sons for school, work, church, and play activities
• and somehow managed to keep at least a thread of my sanity.

Now you can see why I said I wouldn’t commit to updating my blog on any kind of a schedule. If the rest of you are as busy as I seem to be, you probably don’t have time to check in regularly either, so don’t feel bad if it’s been awhile since you stopped into the blog site.

I’m pleased to announce that my newsletter subscriber list has been growing by leaps and bounds. If you are interested in reading, writing, teaching, or adolescent literature, I hope you’ve signed up for these weekly e-mails. If you haven’t, and you’d like to try it out, just send an e-mail to me at LuAnn@LuAnnStaheli.com with the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject heading.

I’ve started working on Volume 2 of Books, Books, and More Books: A Teacher and Parent’s Guide to Adolescent Literature. For those of you who are not familiar with my first CD-Book, in addition to chapters on how adolescent literature can be used with students, successful teaching strategies, and choosing books for multiple purposes, there are 100 Book Study Guides included in the text.

Volume 1 features guides for books by the following authors: David, Almond, Laurie Halse Anderson, Avi, Lois Thompson Bartholomew, Joan Bauer, Gary Blackwood, William J. Brooke, Bruce Brooks, Meg Cabot, Orson Scott Card, Eoin Colfer, Ellen Conford, Caroline B.Cooney, Sharon Creech, Chris Crutcher, Christopher Paul Curtis, Paula Danzinger, Kate DiCamillo, Sharon M. Draper, Alane Ferguson, Paul Fleischman, Susan Fletcher, Gail Friesen, Jack Gantos, Amy Gordon, Margaret Peterson Haddix, Mary Downing Hahn, Bruce Hale, Betsy Hearne, Sid Hite, Will Hobbs, Kimberly Willis Holt, Betty Horvath, Kathy Kacer, Ron Koertge, Gail Carson Levine, Ann M. Martin, Norma Fox Mazer, Joyce McDonald, Lois Metzgher, Carolyn Meyer, Walter Dean Meyers, Claudia Mills, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, John Neufeld, Naomi Shihab Nye, Gary Paulsen, Richard Peck, Rodman Philbrick, Randall Beth Platt, Phillip Pullman, Kristin Randle, Louise Rennison, Ann Rinaldi, John H. Ritter, J. K. Rowling, Pam Muñoz Ryan, Louis Sachar, Gloria Skurzynski, Lemony Snicket, Jerry Spinelli, Todd Strasser, Ross Venokier, Will Weaver, Gloria Whelan, Carol Lynch Williams, Virginia Euwer Wolff, Jacqueline Woodson, and Lawrence Yep.

If there are any books you would love to see in a future edition, please let me know. It is always my goal to produce a user-friendly and helpful product. Thanks!

I can be reached either by leaving a message here, or send me an e-mail at LuAnn@LuAnnStaheli.com. Thanks again for checking in.

Lu Ann