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 ONE FOR THE MURPHYS grabbed my heart and never let go! When we first meet twelve-year-old Carley Connors, she's in a social worker's car on her way to foster care. We quickly learn that Carley and her mother have been beaten by her stepfather. Carley has just been released from the hospital and her mother is still unconscious. The first shocker of this book happens in a flashback. Carly remembers how the beating started. Her mother caught her by the foot and yelled at her stepfather. "Honey, I got her! I got her by the foot!" Carly was betrayed by her own mother. Carley has a hard time trusting the Murphys, but Mrs. Murphy and her two youngest sons finally work their way into her heart. Just as she is hoping to be adopted by them, the social worker takes Carley to see her mother. What happens next is unexpected, but inevitable. What sets this novel apart is it's not depressing. Carley is quick-witted, sarcastic, and kind. I found myself, rather than feeling sorry for her, rooting for her to overcome her circumstances. Kirkus just gave ONE FOR THE MURPHYS a starred review, and for good reason. If you like books that will make you cry, make you laugh, and ultimately make you cheer, then this book is for you.
 Set off the fireworks! My debut novel, THE BALLAD OF JESSIE PEARL, will be edited by Stephen Roxburgh and published by namelos!
THE BALLAD OF JESSIE PEARL had a long and winding road from initial idea to contract. It started when my son's eighth grade history teacher at Tampa Prep gave the class an assignment. Mr. Fowler asked the kids to interview family members and record ten family stories. Each story had to take place during a different decade, and the kids had to research what was happening in the U.S. during that time period, and also in the larger world. One of the stories my son collected called to me. It was the story of Crawley Hennings Wooten, my grandmother's sister. Crawley died when she was 20 years old from tuberculosis. She left behind a ten-month-old baby and a letter planning her own funeral. My grandmother, who was 14 at the time, stepped up and became the baby's mother until his father later remarried. Since my son was 14 at the time of the history assignment, I couldn't help but think about the level of responsibility that had been thrust upon my grandmother as a young girl. Because nobody is still alive that remembers exactly what happened, I let my imagination run free. I read NC history books, novels set in the 1920's, and memoirs from sanatoriums. I made up characters and asked a lot of "what if" questions. In the final analysis, I used some actual place names like Flint Hill Road, Stony Knoll Church, and Frank Meyers's store, but the rest took place only in my mind. After writing about 100 pages of JESSIE, I submitted the first chapter for critique at the Florida SCBWI Miami Conference. I was lucky enough to be critiqued by Newbery-winning author, Richard Peck. Mr. Peck asked me to walk him through the rest of the plot. His eyes twinkled and he said in that droll way of his, "You have too many characters auditioning for a part in your novel." I killed some of them off and that made writing the rest of the book much easier. Author, Joyce Sweeney encouraged me, offered advice, and served as my mentor. My critique partners cheered me on. Once the novel was complete, I signed with a literary agent. She subbed my manuscript to a small group of editors with no success. Here's a sample of the comments she received: Henry Holt: "We have a novel forthcoming that has similar themes, in which a girl is rehabilitating at a TB sanatorium (Breathing Room by Marsha Hayles), so the timing isn't right on our end." Dial BFYR: "My concern is that this is straightforward historical fiction which is just a really tough sell in the market right now." I became convinced that the novel was good, but not quite good enough. So I signed up for Stephen Roxburgh's Whole Novel Workshop through the Highlights Foundation. Stephen, an experienced editor with more than 30 years in publishing, read my novel in its entirety. In addition, I had three one-on-one sessions with him to discuss it. Stephen kept working with me in the months that followed. I revised twice more per his comments. In February of 2012, he finally made an offer. I yelled...I screamed...I danced around my kitchen and ran like a crazy woman from room to room! For every unpublished novelist, there has to be somebody who will open the publishing door and let us in. I will be forever grateful to Stephen for taking that chance on me.
I never expected to have a heart problem. I am not overweight, don't smoke, have excellent cholesterol numbers, and hit the gym most days. I'm even one of those annoying people who has given up caffeine for herbal tea. Yet on February 15th, I passed out on my kitchen floor. I've decided to share what happened in case someone else out there may need to see a cardiologist. It all started in December during a routine gynecological exam. The doctor pressed the stethoscope to my chest, got a puzzled look on her face, and suggested I see my internist for an EKG. "Okay, sure," I mumbled. I figured it was nothing and decided to wait until after the holidays. A couple of weeks later, I woke up in the middle of the night with heart palpitations. I chalked it up to my thyroid medication. After all I never expected to have a heart condition. About a week went by, and I got into a routine argument with my teenaged son. It was silly, about nothing really, but for the first time I experienced chest pains. I sat down and took a couple of deep breaths. That finally got my attention, and I scheduled an EKG for two days later. My EKG was abnormal. It showed that my heart was taking an extra beat. Alarmed, my internist sent me to see a cardiologist...that very same day. I had an echo cardiogram which was normal, then blood work which showed no problem. The cardiologist suggested a stress test and from those results made his diagnosis. I had an idiopathic right ventricular outflow tract tachycardia. I'd never even heard of it and asked him to write it down for me. Dr. Syad told me we don't know for sure what causes this condition, but it's more prevalent in women than men, and often presents itself during a woman's 40's or 50's. I fit both of those criteria. Dr. Syad prescribed a beta blocker called Metoprolol and said we had about a 60% chance that my heartbeat could be regulated with medication. I tried the drug for two weeks and returned for an EKG. Unfortunately, it hadn't helped at all. Dr. Syad decided to change my medication to Flecainide and increase the dosage. If that didn't help then I would be scheduled for an ablation. Forty-five minutes after taking Flecainide, I felt dizzy. My son hadn't left for school yet and I screamed for him. With his music blaring, I was afraid he hadn't heard me. So I stood up...big mistake. I don't remember exactly what happened next, but when I opened my eyes, my son was standing over me and I was lying on the kitchen floor. Somehow Alex scooped me up, got me into his car, and drove me to the emergency room at Tampa General. When the hospital contacted Dr. Syad, he called in a specialist called an electrophysiologist. Enter someone better than any fake doctor on Grey's Anatomy: Dr. Christian Perzanowski. I liked him immediately, but even better, I had confidence that he could help me. Though Dr. Perzanowski calls himself "a lowly electrician for the heart," he specializes in ablations and has performed over 800 of them. Dr. Perzanowski told me he often sees my condition in women who have had infertility problems. I shared with him that though I hadn't experienced infertility, one of my babies had died from sudden infant death syndrome. It seems this condition is associated with a broken heart. Dr. Perzanowski performed a cardiac ablation on me. During the procedure, a long, thin flexible tube was put into a blood vessel in my groin, then guided into my heart through the blood vessel. Dr. Perzanowski found two small broken places very close together. He "zapped" the spots with an electrical current. When Dr. Perzanowski uttered the words "two spots, very close together," tears flooded my eyes. What I hadn't told him was that my heart had been broken twice. Once when my son died, and again when my only sister was killed in an automobile accident. Of course my heart had two broken places. It made perfect sense. I'm now back home and learning to trust my heart again. Any twinge in my chest is cause for alarm. It will take me a while to relax and move past this episode. I'm nervous, but that seems perfectly natural.
  Gloria Spielman is a children’s author whose latest book Marcel Marceau Master of Mime was a National Jewish Book Award Finalist, a Moonbeam Children’s Book Award Silver Medalist, and a Sydney Taylor Book Awards, Notable Book. Gloria, congratulations on the success of Marcel Marceau! Thank you Shannon and thank you for inviting me to talk to you. Shannon: I think one of the hardest parts about writing a picture book biography is determining a focus. How did you decide which parts of Marcel’s life to include in your book?
Gloria: A picture book biography can be either a birth to death story, which is what we usually think of as a biography. But it doesn’t have to be. It can also capture a period in the subject’s life like or even an event, like Mordicai Gerstein’s, book The Man who walked between the Towers about Phillipe Petit’s 1974 high-wire walk between the World Trade Center towers. Master of Mime followed Marcel from childhood till the end of his life. But you’re right, determining a focus is a tricky thing. How do you capture a life in 1,500 words and 32 pages? Every word counts and every incident has to propel the story forward and capture its essence. The right opening determines the focus so getting that right is important. I look out for a seminal event which can be a springboard to follow the person through his life. I tend to think in pictures so if an event creates a picture in my head, it gets shortlisted. This is, after all, a picture book. So, the book opens with Marcel dressing up as his childhood hero and the man he called his creative father, silent movie star, Charlie Chaplin. What’s the most interesting story about Marcel Marceau that didn’t make the cut?Gloria: There were two. I’m not sure which was more interesting. One incident that didn’t make the cut happened in 1967. Marcel finally met his artistic hero, Charlie Chaplin by chance at the airport in Paris. Marcel began to imitate Chaplin and Chaplin, joined in, right there in the middle of the airport. It connected beautifully to the book’s opening, and would have made a lovely illustration but I couldn’t get it to fit into the flow of the story, so out it went. I came across another anecdote in an article by James Kirkup in the British newspaper, The Independent. He writes about Marcel being stopped by the police, during the war, who asked to see his papers. Marcel was on the wanted list and his papers were perfect fakes. Kirkup writes, “The narks kept examining his papers and looking at his face, while he stared back at them without batting an eyelid, showing no trace of fear. The men were baffled, and let him go. It was an early demonstration of the powers of mime.” Since this was the only place I’d found this incident mentioned, I couldn’t really include it. This is your second picture book biography. What attracts you to the genre? Who’s your next subject?
Gloria: I do enjoy writing picture book biographies but it wasn’t a case of ‘I’d love to write a picture book biography. Who shall I write about? After, Janusz Korczak’s Children came out people started asking ‘So, who are you going to write about next?’ I realized I’d got the taste for picture book biographies and began to think of writing another one. I’m getting the same question again. I would love to write about an unsung hero next time. I have an idea or two that I’m looking into. People are fascinating and I love writing about their lives. Shannon: How can teachers use your book in the classroom?
Gloria: I’m actually working on a guide for teachers and also developing presentations for schools. I will have both up on my site as soon as they are ready. Shannon: Many writers say they have no trouble coming up with ideas, yet this is one of the most common questions they get asked. Why do you think people are so fascinated about where writers get their ideas?
Gloria: The whole process does seem rather mysterious and quite unfathomable to people who don’t have ideas constantly distracting them and demanding attention. I’ve written tons of educational material for learners of English as a Foreign Language, and the question I’m asked the most is definitely ‘How do you know what to write about?’ The gut-reaction answer is, “I don’t know. I just do.” Ideas are everywhere. You just have to open your eyes and mind to see them and ask “What if …?” ‘What if Columbus had never discovered America?” “What if we lived in a society where everyone was perfect?” The ‘what if’ question is the germ of many if not most ideas. But the idea is just the seed. But no one asks the really important question. How do you turn an idea into a book? That’s the hard part. Ideas are dandy, but it’s the hard work that follows that turns it into a story. What do you enjoy most about writing? What do you find most challenging?
Gloria: Very many things. Here’s one. I’m never bored and there’s no such thing as nothing to do. Not ever. An overly long line at the post office? You never know what snippet of overheard conversation will spark an idea. A long train journey? Uninterrupted time with my laptop. Waiting for a bus? An opportunity to daydream and hopefully let the subconscious figure out what should happen next in your story. The challenges? Again, there are many. Here are two: First, to force myself to stop and take care of important things like washing-up, folding the laundry or the shopping. Then once, started on the important thing, to then force myself to stay there until it’s finished because without fail, a ‘brilliant’ idea pops into the head and disappears forever if you wait until the dishes are done to jot it down. Two, it’s the conundrum, where and how to find time and peace and quiet. What are you working on now?
Gloria: Many things and I’m excited about them all. I’ll mention the two I have a soft spot for. There’s an adult novel, set in the old London Library of my childhood and deals with getting your voice heard while living on the margins of your society. Another is a humorous YA with a teenage boy on a quest for a father, new families, his genetic inheritance and worries about his unusually small feet. I am also looking for a home for three unpublished picture books. For more information check the Association of Jewish Libraries Blog.
Or The Sydney Taylor website.
The blog tour starts on February 5th and the schedule is below. I'll be hosting Gloria Spielman, author of MARCEL MARCEAU MASTER OF MIME on February 10th!
The Sydney Taylor Book Award will be celebrating and showcasing its 2012 gold and silver medalists and a few selected Notables with a Blog Tour, February 5-10, 2012! Interviews with winning authors and illustrators will appear on a wide variety of Jewish and kidlit blogs. For those of you who have not yet experienced a Blog Tour, it's basically a virtual book tour. Instead of going to a library or bookstore to see an author or illustrator speak, you go to a website on or after the advertised date to read an author’s or illustrator's interview. Later this spring, we'll follow up with an episode of Katie Davis's Brain Burps About Books devoted to the Sydney Taylor Book Award! Below is the schedule for the 2012 Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour. Please follow the links to visit the hosting blogs on or after their tour dates, and be sure to leave them plenty of comments! THE 2012 SYDNEY TAYLOR BOOK AWARD BLOG TOUR SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2012 Susan Campbell Bartoletti, author of Naamah and the Ark at Night Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Younger Readers Category at Ima On & Off the Bima Holly Meade, illustrator of Naamah and the Ark at Night Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Younger Readers Category at Into the Wardrobe Shelley Sommer, author of Hammerin' Hank Greenberg, Baseball Pioneer Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Older Readers Category at Great Kid Books MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2012 Marcia Vaughan, author of Irena's Jar of Secrets Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Older Readers Category at Shelf-Employed Ron Mazellan, illustrator of Irena's Jar of Secrets Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Older Readers Category at The Children's War TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2012 Trina Robbins, author of Lily Renee, Escape Artist: From Holocaust Survivor to Comic Book Pioneer Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Older Readers Category at Bildungsroman Anne Timmons (and possibly Mo Oh), illustrators of of Lily Renee, Escape Artist: From Holocaust Survivor to Comic Book Pioneer Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Older Readers Category at Gathering Books Morris Gleitzman, author of Then Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Teen Readers Category at The 3 R's WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2012 Michael Rosen, author of Chanukah Lights Sydney Taylor Book Award winner in the Younger Readers Category at A Chair, a Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy Robert Sabuda, illustrator/paper engineer of Chanukah Lights Sydney Taylor Book Award winner in the Younger Readers Category at Practically Paradise Susan Goldman Rubin, author of Music Was It: Young Leonard Bernstein Sydney Taylor Book Award winner in the Older Readers Category at Cynsations Robert Sharenow, author of The Berlin Boxing Club Sydney Taylor Book Award winner in the Teen Readers Category at Jewish Books for Children THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012 Durga Yael Bernhard, author & illustrator of Around the World in One Shabbat Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Younger Readers Category at Frume Sarah's World Shirley Vernick, author of The Blood Lie Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Teen Readers Category at The Fourth Musketeer FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2012 Eric Kimmel, author of The Golem's Latkes Sydney Taylor Notable Book, and winner of the National Jewish Book Award at Ann Koffsky's Blog Gloria Spielman, author of Marcel Marceau, Master of Mime Sydney Taylor Notable Book, and finalist for the National Jewish Book Award at Shannon and the Sunshine Band Richard Michelson, author of Lipman Pike: America's First Home Run King Sydney Taylor Notable Book, and finalist for the National Jewish Book Award at Blue Thread Sydney Taylor Award Winners – Wrap-Up All winners, all categories at The Whole Megillah
 At the Miami SCBWI Conference, I had the opportunity to attend a workshop taught by Tamar Brazis, Editorial Director at Abrams. The theme of the workshop was the art of friendship in picture books. Ms. Brazis started the workshop by saying her favorite kind of picture books are about friendship. She used four books as examples: CITY DOG AND COUNTRY FROG by Mo Willems, MAKING A FRIEND by Allison McGhee, THE GIFT OF NOTHING by Patrick McDonnell, and DAYS WITH FROG AND TOAD by Arnold Lobel. We read each of these books aloud to see what made them special. All of them used simple, yet beautiful language. The thing they had in common was "feeling." Reading each of them left me with a comfy, cozy feeling, like being hugged by a good friend. I think everybody in the world could use a few more hugs. As Ms. Brazis said, "Everything is better with a friend." Do you have a favorite picture book or novel about friendship? What makes that book stand out in your mind?
 Augusta is one of my writer friends living here in the Tampa Bay Area. I was delighted to attend her book launch party at Inkwood Books earlier this month, and to hear her interviewed on NPR. Recently, I had the chance to chat with Augusta about her debut novel, GLORY BE, which was edited by Andrea Pinkney and published by Scholastic. GLORY BE takes place in 1964 during Freedom Summer. What was your initial inspiration for this story?
I actually started writing the book in 2001, after hearing Ruby Bridges speak at Kent Place School in Summit, NJ, where I worked for ten years. Soon after that, I joined a critique group and mostly wrote book reviews and personal essays. Actually GLORY BE started life as “Junk Poker,” an essay/ short story about a game my sister and I played as children. That remained the working title of the novel for quite a while, through several premature submissions. Till I realized neither junk nor poker was a particularly appropriate title for a middle-grade novel. But I need to go back a bit to tell you that this story really started in 1964 when I worked for my state’s Library Commission as a summer college intern. Sunflower County, Mississippi (And no, I didn’t make up that county’s name) was in the heart of the Mississippi Delta. It was Freedom Summer, 1964. A lot was going on, to say the very least on that subject. History unfolded while I shelved books and ran story hours. As a library intern, I worked with an amazing director. She stood up to a very vocal library trustee who wanted us to close down the library, or at least remove all the chairs, rather than allow it to be integrated. By the end of that summer, Story Hour had turned into a remedial reading class attended by children who’d never been inside a library. That same summer, I briefly met a young, white civil rights worker from Ohio. In town to register voters and teach in the new Freedom School, she spent her off hours hanging out in the library. It’s not a reach to say I learned a lot that college summer. And now, both my library director and that civil rights worker have ended up in my book. I read a Willa Cather quote on your blog that said: “Let your fiction grow from the land beneath your feet.” Tell us how growing up in the Mississippi Delta influences your writing.
I see setting as almost another character in my writing. GLORY BE takes place during two short weeks in July. I always loved summers growing up. As I wrote this novel, I pictured mimosa blossoms from the tree outside my childhood home, and I heard crickets — that almost deafening sound that happened every early evening. When Glory and her friends gather to play kick-the-can or baseball, the pecan tree that shaded my backyard is home base. Another quote I love is from Eudora Welty, as reported in One Writer’s Beginnings. She shared this advice from a literary critic: “Always be sure you get your moon in the right part of the sky.” I tried very hard to get the details of the Mississippi Delta right. Give us a brief plot synopsis for your novel.
All Gloriana June Hemphill wants this summer is for her pool to stay open and her big sister to stay her best friend. But things are beginning to change in Hanging Moss, Mississippi, whether she likes it or not. The town is divided by the closing of the community pool and the civil rights workers who’ve come to town. Her sister has a boyfriend, the new football hero who’s mysteriously turned up in town. Glory begins to make sense of these changes when she befriends the daughter of one of these “outside agitators.” Her maid, Emma, also helps her understand what’s changing in her life, and more importantly, why things shouldn’t stay the same. GLORY BE is historical fiction. What research tips do you have for other authors?
Having spent most of my career as a librarian, the research part was fun. I think when writing for kids about such an important time in history, writers need to make sure young readers understand what it was like living in another century, in a different place or in someone else’s shoes. Quite honestly, even though I was there during this crucial time in our history, as a child I was shielded from a lot of what was happening in the South. So I’ve always been interested in learning more about Freedom Summer. For this book, I tried to read oral histories and also to interview my contemporaries about the actual events. Then I had fun remembering early 1960s music, the hairstyles, the food. So many debut authors complain about the lack of marketing support for their novels. That has certainly not been your experience. Share with us the wonderful journey you’ve been on pre-publication.
A whirlwind. That’s about the only way I can describe it! My editor loved the book from the very start. We worked together for several months, then she started sharing it with everybody at Scholastic. For me, that’s when the excitement truly began. Along with four other debut novelists, I was invited to speak at the spring sales meeting. Having been a school librarian for so long, I went prepared. I took my Junk Poker/ Buster Brown shoebox filled with treasures, and did a Show and Tell. After that, I was asked to read from the book for an audio recording Scholastic made to share with potential bookstore purchasers, then a video recording for their Librarians Preview. I could go on and on. I have no complaints! I adore Scholastic! What has been the most exciting thing that has happened to you in the past year?
Wow. So many things. Re-connecting with old friends (mostly via my blog and Facebook) who have their own memories of the summer of 1964. Hearing grown-up readers tell me they want to share the book with their children and grandchildren and students to help them understand Freedom Summer. Lunch with my editor and tea with my agent when I returned to New Jersey for the summer. All the amazing events at Scholastic. I pinch myself on an almost daily basis. Even before the book is officially in print! What are you working on now?
Aha. The hard part! I’m working on a second middle-grade novel, set in Florida, started at a Highlights Founders Workshop with Carolyn Coman at least three years ago. I try not to think about how long it takes me to write, from idea to fruition. I’m working hard to speed up that process. GLORY BE took almost ten years from the time I put pen to paper until the book hit the stores. This “new” novel was critiqued by an amazing agent, Linda Pratt, at an SCBWI regional event. That’s how we met and totally connected, but she didn’t take me on until I revised and submitted GLORY BE a year later. I have another tiny kernel of a potential master plan for something new, also middle-grade, set in the South of course. Always be prepared. Just in case.
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