Maurice Sendak

During all the years I taught preschool and read picture books to the kids one book stood out from all the rest as the most popular. Except for one little girl who was afraid of the monsters, every child loved Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.

I guess every little kid has misbehaved and had nightmares so they could all identify with the story, which is just scary enough to be exciting but has a comforting ending.

I recently learned that a new book by Maurice Sendak will be published soon. It will be called Bumble-Ardy and is based on something Sendak, who is now 83 years old, once wrote for Sesame Street. Will it be as good ads Where the Wild Things Are? We'll have to wait and see.

I learned about Bumble-Ardy on Nancy Stewart's blog and you can find out more about it by following this link:

http://tinyurl.com/3ockjnw

Substitute Teaching

Years ago I was having some health problems and couldn't work full time, so I became a substitute teacher. That was a job I enjoyed a lot, but I missed having the same group of kids every day and eventually went back to teaching my own classes.

A few years ago ago I was visiting my kids and took my grandson to his school in the district where I had worked fifteen years earlier. To my surprise, some of the other teachers asked me if I was subbing that day. They remembered me after all that time!

Subbing isn't for everyone, but I enjoyed it a lot. People doing that job get to meet lots of great kids and develop relationships with other teachers and staff. (Believe me, nobody can be a better judge of teachers than somebody who has subbed in their classes.)

One of the high points of substitute teaching was that once in a while I'd explain something a little differently than the regular teacher did and a student, usually a boy, would suddenly understand something he'd struggled with. Those ah-ha moments happened rarely, but made me feel great when they did.

Of course once in a while I had a bad day, but those can happen in any job and were few and far between.

Soon I'll start substitute teaching again. Since I've worked a lot with kids in Special Education and taught Preschool and Kindergarten chances are good that I'll often be working with classes like those.

I can hardly wait!

What For?

About a year ago I was trying to figure out a tag line that would apply to all the writing I do. The one factor that has been consistent in both my writing and my life is caring about people who are different, often because of special needs, and helping others to understand and accept them. Maybe that's because I had severe chronic asthma as a child and was often teased and bullied.

The tag line I decided to use is "Opening Eyes, Opening Hearts" and I hope my books do that for kids. The Peril of the Sinister Scientist has a protagonist who doesn't know who his father is and features another character who uses a wheelchair. Secret Service Saint shows the young man who later became Saint Nicholas helping people dealing with illness and poverty. And Signs of Trouble, my newest book, is about kids with learning disabilities who get separated from their class on a field trip. Besides helping children understand learning disabilities that book also shows them ways to stay safe themselves.

Soon I'll be going back to substitute teaching and will probably work in a lot of Special Education classes because of my experience in that area.

I hope both my writing and my teaching will help to open people's eyes and hearts.

And the Winner Is ...

The person who wins a copy of the e-book, 11 Secrets of Getting Published, is ET. I'll send her the author's contact information by e-mail so she can let Mary DeMuth know she won.

I'm sure ET will become a published writer soon as a result of reading the book.

Drawing

The drawing for a free copy of Mary DeMuth's book will be tonight at 8:00 Pacific Time so if you want to enter you'll need to do it before then. I'll announce the winner on my blog tomorrow. For more information please see the previous blog post.

11 Secrets of Getting Published

I've met Mary DeMuth at writers conferences and was pleased to get a free copy of her e-book, 11 Secrets of Getting Published. I've always admired Mary for her courageous vulnerability and willingness to help others and those qualities show as she reveals her own mistakes along the way.

The book is great, but I think the title is inaccurate. It should be called All the Secrets to Getting Published because just about everything important I've learned from books, magazines, websites, and writers conferences is summarized in it.

While the book will be immensely helpful to new writers, any of us will benefit from being reminded of what we've heard and seen and may learn a few new things along the way.

Mary DeMuth has offered to send a free copy to the winner of a drawing. and anyone who makes a comment on my blog (not on Facebook) answering the question below will be entered in the contest.

What's the most important thing you think a writer should know?

If you tweet about this post and let me know you can have another chance to win the e-book. You can also enter the drawing by liking her Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/authormarydemuth

Shifty

I don't often blog about YA books, but I couldn't resist sharing about Shifty by Lynn E. Hazen. There's no sex in this book, but the main character is a teen and his rough lifestyle makes the book inappropriate for a lot of younger readers.

This book is about a kid who has been shuffled around in the foster care system for years and does a lot of dumb things even though his motives are often good. He wants to help the foster mother and younger foster kids he has learned to care about in his current home. But his efforts seem only to get him deeper into trouble. Will he have to loose these people too?

As a former foster parent I can attest to the accuracy of Hazen's descriptions of the system, including the good and bad social workers.

The book has a satisfying ending, but there are a few things that could be used as lead-ins for a sequel. I hope the author writes one, because I care about these characters and would like to read more about them.