Thoughtful posts on Crossing Cultures, Friendship, and The Lost Colony of Roanoke

Join the Celebration!

Caroline Starr Rose wrote this wonderful piece on life and writing with some marvelous quotes: 

Pinch of Daring

If you missed mine on Monday about friendship and how it blesses us, here it is: 
 

Childhood, Best Friends, and Blue Birds by Caroline Starr Rose :: Kimberley Griffiths Little

Other Posts from other writers and readers. All good stuff!

Blue Birds by Caroline Starr Rose :: Melissa Sarno

MG Book Review — Blue Birds :: Akossiwa Ketoglo

A Celebration of Caroline Starr Rose’s Blue Birds: We Were the Fortunate Strangers :: Valerie Stein

Celebrating Blue Birds with an Interview with Caroline Starr Rose :: Faith Hough

Roanoke Lost Colony Imagined in Blue Birds :: Pragmatic Mom

Enjoy!

xo,
Kimberley

www.kimberleygriffithslittle.come

Childhood, Best Friends, and BLUE BIRDS by Caroline Starr Rose

Today begins a special Pre-Order & Gift week for the upcoming release of Caroline Starr Rose’s BLUE BIRDS (Putnam, March 10, 2014)!!

Caroline’s gorgeous new novel, BLUE BIRDS, is a historical written in verse is about a girl named Alis in 1587, fresh off the boat from England in the new and strange land of America in Virginia. As the only girl in the colony, Alis is lonely and missing her friend back home, but she's fascinated by this beautiful new world so different from cold, dirty London. While exploring the woods, she meets Kimi, a girl from the Roanoke tribe. Together they slowly forge a friendship, but that friendship is forbidden and fraught with potential sorrow.

So today I'm talking about the powerful blessing friendship can be.

I met my first best friend in Kindergarten. Her name was Starr and we instantly hit it off. (Caroline Starr Rose is the second Starr I've ever known in my life and she and I instantly hit it off, too.) 

Childhood friend, Starr, and I spent practically every waking moment together. We were inseparable.

One of the things we both had a passion for was a love of books. We both read ferociously. In fact, the first picture taken of us in Kindergarten is the two of us sitting together, our heads bent over a book. (I wish I knew what book it was, but alas, the picture keeps this little tidbit a secret).

Starr and I shared books with each other, went to the library together, and laughed and cried over books for the next 8 years. Every afternoon we were either at my house or her house (although we had to learn how to cross a very busy street), and we spent a great deal of our time together bringing stories alive by dressing up and creating adventures and characters from the worlds of the books we’d read. (Kind of like dramatic fan fiction loooong before fan-fiction was a term.)

We especially loved The Little House books and pretended we were living in the Olden Days. During Friday night sleep-overs we talked endlessly, ate brownie dough raw, squealed when our big brothers teased us and made fun of our “characters”—while Starr’s father (who was a professional musician) listened to classical music in the living room and her mother (who was a Kindergarten teacher) created awesomely cool boards for her classroom

By age 10 we began to create our own stories. My first official "novel" was authored by the two of us. My favorite books were historicals, contemporary, and magical realism stories, but for some reason Starr and I wrote a science fiction book about two girls kidnapped by aliens and taken to the misty world of Venus far across space. It was full of danger and daring as we hijacked the spacecraft to get back to Earth.

Whenever Starr and I were writing stories we used pen names; our middle names of Elizabeth and Anne respectively. Of course. Because we loved our middle names more than our first names, and they sounded so much more lush and grown-up.

I’ll never forget the power that reading Harriet the Spy had on me. Starr and I read that book several times and for many wonderful summer afternoons Starr and I armed ourselves with our notebooks and proceeded to spy on her family. She had a wonderful, large backyard with a big weeping willow tree, a play house, and a big tree-house with a fire station type sliding pole for quick getaways when *enemies* AKA brothers and sisters came lurking. These various locales - so close to the safety of the back door of the house! - were perfect for surreptitious eavesdropping.

What followed were many happy years of reading voraciously and pounding out stories and “novels” on my father’s typewriter in his garage office.

High school brought lots of changes and, unfortunately, Starr and I never once had a class together or activity. We drifted apart due to extracurricular activities and making new friends through our different churches.

College and marriage took me out of state from where I grew up in the Bay Area. I haven’t seen or corresponded with Starr in over 30 years. I attended my 20th high school reunion hoping to reunite with her there, but she did not attend and nobody seemed to know how to contact her. But I fondly remember the power of our friendship, our closeness, our loyalty—and the power of books and writing that welded us together.

I’ve had close friendships since my childhood days, but none that have been as close or as strong (not counting my husband!) as the one with Starr. Would I be the writer I am today without our live-action fan fiction, story-writing and endless imagining? 

I think I would be a writer because the desire to create my own published work was borne deep within me at a very early age. But I think Starr gave me the courage to begin, to not hold back, to try. With Starr, I believed that the magic was real. Because it was so much less scary and overwhelming to dream together, to brainstorm together, and to put those ideas down on paper together. It was a true gift of our friendship.  

Thank you, Starr, wherever you are.

***This post is part of a week-long celebration in honor of the book, Blue Birds. Author Caroline Starr Rose is giving away a downloadable PDF of this beautiful Blue Birds quote (created by Annie Barnett of Be Small Studios) for anyone who pre-orders the book from January 12-19. Simply click through to order from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books A Million, IndieBound, or Powell's, then email a copy of your receipt to caroline@carolinestarrrose.com by Monday, January 19. 
PDFs will be sent out January 20.***

Isn't this quote beautiful all framed? 

"How ordinary life is without a bit of fancy--without a pinch of daring to fill our days."

Caroline Starr Rose

Quote from BLUE BIRDS

Tell us about your childhood friendships, adult friendships (oh, where would I be without my writer friends around the country?!) and pre-order BLUE BIRDS this week! 

xo,

Kimberley

FREE + LUNCH = GIVEAWAYS! Please take our very fun survey!

May 14  , 2013

FREE + LUNCH = GIVEAWAYS   The Spellbinders met at Jason's Deli to discuss our plans for Year 5. There are some exciting things on the horizon including a real life Spellbinders Tour Across Texas in  April 2014 in conjunction with TLA (The Texas Library Association Annual Conference). Watch for details in next October's issue. We are also changing from Constant Contact to Mail Chimp, so be sure to let your IT administrators know. We will send more information next fall in Constant Contact. As we contemplate how to best serve our readers, we would really appreciate it if you would take a brief survey to assist us. This is your opportunity to tell us what you love, what you want, and what we could make even better. Go here for the Spellbinders Survey Your input is so important to us that we're having a drawing for free BOOKS, so after completing the survey, please sign up at the Spellbinders Blog.    or at RAFFLECOPTER Winners will be contacted by email and announced on our blog Tuesday, May 20, 2013. Giveaways include these Spellbinders books:           And before we head off to summer vacations, sipping cold sodas on a lovely beach with a good book, here is the winner from our giveaway two weeks ago: Kimberley's Book Launch of WHEN THE BUTTERFLIES CAME.   The Winner is: KKC or Kelly Karsner Clarke!! Congratulations!   Please send your address to Kimberley at kglittle@msn.com!   Thank you, everyone, for entering the giveaway and posting a lovely comment on the blog. Thank you as well for reading SPELLBINDERS this year - and filling out our survey, too!   Have a great summer!! See you next fall. Join Our Mailing List! Meet the Spellbinders Carolee Dean has made numerous appearances as a guest poet/author at schools, libraries, poetry events, and teacher/library conferences. She holds a master's degree in communicative disorders, and has spent over a decade working in the public schools as a speech-language pathologist. Her first novel, Comfort,was nominated as a Best Book for Young Adults, was named the Best YA Novel of 2002 by the Texas Institute of Letters, and was on the TAYSHAS (Texas Library Association) reading list. Take Me There is a YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers. Her paranormal verse novel, Forget Me Not, was published by Simon Pulse in October of 2012.    She conducts teacher trainings on inspiring reluctant writers including "The Secret Language of Stories" and "Random Act of Haiku."             Caroline Starr Rose spent her childhood in the deserts of Saudi Arabia and New Mexico, camping at the Red Sea in one and eating red chile in the other. She's taught English and social studies to upper elementary and middle-school students in New Mexico, Florida, Virginia, and Louisiana. Back in NewMexico, Caroline now writes middle-grade novels and picture books full time.   To find teacher's guides, writing activities, and information about author visits, go to my website    Kimberley Griffiths Little has won the  Southwest Book Award, The Whitney Award for Best Youth Novel of 2010, and the author of the highly acclaimed, The Healing Spell and Circle of Secrets published by Scholastic Press. Look for her books at the Scholastic Book Fairs   She lives on a dirt road in a small town by the Rio Grande with her husband, a robotics engineer and their three sons. Kimberley is a favorite speaker at schools around the country, presenting "The Creative Diary", a highly successful writing workshop and has been a speaker at many conferences. Please visit her website to download free Teacher's Guides and Book Club Guides.          Upcoming Author Events   Caroline Starr Rose  July 27 19th Annual Norfolk Public Library Literature Festival, Norfolk, NE

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Caroline's Classroom Connections: Historical Fiction

April 22, 2013 Caroline's Classroom Connections: A VOICE FOR KANZAS A VOICE FOR KANZAS - Debra McArthur middle-grade historical fiction (ages 8-12) study guide Authenticity supported by her previous juvenile nonfiction works, McArthur has created a believable and fast-paced tale of life in the Kansas Territory.  - Kirkus Reviews Although the book is intended for young readers, it's not hard to imagine folks of all ages will enjoy the thrilling yet accurate historical events told in A VOICE FOR KANZAS.  - The Landmark Newpaper   Please tell us about your book. A VOICE FOR KANZAS tells the story of Lucy Catherine Thomkins, a thirteen-year-old poet from Pennsylvania whose father takes the family to Kansas Territory in 1855. Although her father is driven by his desire to vote in the territorial elections and make Kansas a free state, Lucy doesn't understand the importance of that, and she is miserable in her new home, where they are constantly threatened by Border Ruffians from Missouri who want to ensure that Kansas will become another slave state. When Lucy learns that her best friend's family is secretly helping slaves escape, she makes a decision that could have dangerous consequences for herself and her family. She struggles to find her place-and her voice-in Kansas. What inspired you to write this story? I learned a little about Kansas history and the struggle for statehood when I taught high school in Leavenworth, Kansas. I found the story fascinating, and I thought about how difficult daily life must have been for the early settlers. In 2001, I wrote a nonfiction book about territorial Kansas, and my research rekindled my interest in the era. A few years later, I began to imagine the story from a young girl's viewpoint, and I decided to use 1855 Lawrence as the setting for a novel. A Voice for Kanzas Could you share with readers how you conducted your research or share a few interesting tidbits you learned while researching? I knew most of the important events of the period from my previous research on the nonfiction book, but I really needed to know more about the daily life of the people in Lawrence. Through the Kansas State Historical Society I obtained the weekly newspapers from Lawrence in 1855. I found articles about neighbors, church dinners, weddings, funerals, band concerts, and all the wonderful tidbits of small-town life that really bring a place to life. That really helped me build a whole world for Lucy. One day I ran across the 1855 brochure Information for Kanzas Immigrants published by the New England Emigrant Aid Company. The description of "Kanzas" in the brochure was intended to draw Easterners to the territory, and made it sound much more settled and civilized than it actually was. Many settlers were pretty unhappy when they arrived in the territory and found that it was not at all as it had been advertised. That document led me to the real meaning of the story. What are some special challenges associated with using a historical setting? I thought I had a really good handle on the historical details until I began writing. Every day I had new things to learn: What kind of pen would Lucy use? What kind of shoes would she wear? What kinds of things would be in her father's store? How much would they cost? Each detail I learned led to three more I needed to investigate. I had to do some kind of research every single day as I wrote the first draft. What topics does your book touch upon that would make it a perfect fit for the classroom? The Civil War is a major topic of study in schools, but many people don't know much about the years leading up to the war. In 1855, a newspaper writer predicted "Kansas will probably be the first field of bloody struggle with the slave power," and he was correct. Few people outside the state know the story of "Bleeding Kansas." The book gives readers some idea of the working of pre-Civil War politics, the Underground Railroad, early feminism, and the power of the newspaper to influence events. All of these are topics students may wish to explore more through their own study. You can learn more about Debra and A VOICE FOR KANZAS at her website and blog.      Join Our Mailing List! Meet the Spellbinders Caroline Starr Rose spent her childhood in the deserts of Saudi Arabia and New Mexico, camping at the Red Sea in one and eating red chile in the other. She's taught English and social studies to upper elementary and middle-school students in New Mexico, Florida, Virginia, and Louisiana. Back in New Mexico, Caroline now writes middle-grade novels and picture books full time.  To find teacher's guides, writing activities, and information about author visits, go to her website, stop by her blog, or follow her on Twitter.    Carolee Dean has made numerous appearances as a guest poet/author at schools, libraries, poetry events, and teacher/library conferences. She holds a bachelor's degree in music therapy and a master's degree in communicative disorders, and she has spent over a decade working in the public schools as a speech-language pathologist. Her first novel, Comfort,was nominated as a Best Book for Young Adults, was named the Best YA Novel of 2002 by the Texas Institute of Letters, and was on the TAYSHAS (Texas Library Association) reading list. Take Me There is a YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers. She conducts teacher trainings on inspiring reluctant writers including "The Secret Language of Stories" and "Random Act of Haiku."             Kimberley Griffiths Little is the recipient of the Southwest Book Award, The Whitney Award for Best Youth Novel of 2010, and the author of the highly acclaimed, The Healing Spell and Circle of Secrets, published by Scholastic Press. Look for her books at the Scholastic Book Fairs, as well as two more forthcoming novels in 2012 and 2013.    She lives on a dirt road in a small town by the Rio Grande with her husband, a robotics engineer and their three sons. Kimberley is a favorite speaker at schools around the country, presenting "The Creative Diary", a highly successful writing workshop and has been a speaker at many conferences. Please visit her website to download free Teacher's Guides and Book Club Guides.       Upcoming Events Kimberley Griffiths Little April 27th New Mexico Battle of the Books (Guest Author) WUNM campus Silver City, NM May 3-5  Presenter/Critiquer Niagara Writer's Conference Niagara Falls May 9-11 LDStorymakers Conference Publication Primer The Marriott in Provo, Utah  Caroline Starr Rose July 27 19th Annual Norfolk Public Library Literature Festival, Norfolk, NE

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The Book Whisperer, Donalyn Miller, Part 3!

April 1, 2013 An Interview with Donalyn Miller, author of THE BOOK WHISPERER Part III Links to parts one and two. What is a typical day in your classroom like? Loud! I joke that it sounds like beehive. We talk constantly about books and writing. My students spend the first 30 minutes reading while I confer with individual students about their reading and help students preview and select books. After reading time, we talk with partners about our reading experiences that day and I present a few book commercials about new additions to the class library or books I think students will enjoy based on what they are reading now, or books I think will stretch them.  After reading time, I teach a lesson and students practice the skill or strategy I have taught using a common text like an article, poem, or short story for the first few encounters with this topic. As often as possible, I ask students to apply what they have learned to their independent reading, writing, or inquiry when they have mastered the skill or strategy after whole group instruction. We write every day. Sometimes, we write about reading and sometimes we develop essays or reports. We are currently engaged in an author study about Seymour Simon. Students are reading several of his books, exploring his website, and creating reports of information based on one research topic. I am teaching lessons on sentence fluency, taking notes, combing information from several sources, and organizing information logically. I try to integrate reading and writing as much as possible, so some students could be reading or writing during our daily work periods depending on their individual progress and needs that day. I circulate and confer with children during these work periods. After a work period, students share bits of their writing and solicit feedback from their peers. I facilitate these discussions. During the last ten minutes of class, we gather for a read aloud. Right now, we are reading WONDER by R.J. Palacio. We are keeping a running list of Mr. Browne's precepts on the board and discussing the book and its messages each day. You don't use the terms struggling or reluctant readers but instead identify readers as developing, dormant, and underground. Could you define for us what these readers are like and what they most need? Developing readers lack reading confidence, experience, or ability, but are somewhere on the path toward developing reading self-efficacy. I prefer this term to struggling readers because development implies progress and effort instead of failure. Dormant readers possess the grade and age levels abilities expected from them at school, but don't find reading personally meaningful beyond school expectations. I find that most of my students are dormant readers. They haven't experienced enough pleasure or engagement with reading. Underground readers are avid readers who live two reading lives--one at school and one outside of school. These children are often avid readers who may underperform on school reading assignments because they don't find them meaningful. They may not fill out reading logs, participate in whole class discussions, or complete reports, then excel on reading tests. I think there are other types of readers who don't express these marked habits and abilities, but I chose to write about these types because these the students that benefit most from free choice voluntary reading and more classroom choice. "Students need to receive encouragement for the skills and knowledge they do have and be allowed to make mistakes as they work toward mastery." What are some "mistakes" you've seen kids afraid to make? How have you helped liberate them from this fear? Reading is hard because so much of it involves subjective interpretation. Kids who want to get it right struggle when I push them to determine their own meaning for a text. They want me to tell them what it means. They want explicit answers to every question. When we read shared texts, we look at the basic plot events or main ideas first, then delve into the deeper meanings or implications of a text. This assures everyone understands the universal meaning or key points before exploring personal connections and meanings. I think this values all of the learners in my class. I also share my mistakes and misconceptions with students. They don't realize that even the most experienced readers and writers need to reread, revise, and mull over ideas.  Your principal sounds like a phenomenal person -- giving you the room to teach reading this way, encouraging fellow teachers to examine "classroom practices and institutional policies that are so entrenched in school cultures" as to be ineffective, the afterward he wrote for your book. How does someone who doesn't have the support you do go about making effective changes in their classroom community? It is hard to teach in a culture that doesn't get what you are doing. I keep Stephen Krashen's and Nancie Atwell's books on my shelf. I want colleagues, parents, and administrators to know that I have a research basis for what I am doing. If anyone questions me about my methods, I refer to the research. You can disagree with me all you want, I am just one person, but how can you discount decades of research on our field? I cannot think of any administrator who would tell a teacher to disregard research. It helps to make a list of your core beliefs about teaching and learning and look at it often. What do you believe is right for children? What do you believe is important for them to learn? How is your daily instruction leading students to a better life beyond school? It is easy to get bogged down in the daily grind of school, and it helps to remember these long term goals. I was not treated well by many of my colleagues when I first changed my practices. It was hard. I sought out the teachers in my building who were most progressive and open-minded (and our librarian), and I developed collaborative relationships with them. I spent a lot of time with my students, which helped me focus on them. My students' test scores were good and I walked into school happy every day. My students and their parents were happy, too. Eventually, people were curious. I suggest that teachers implement as much as they can, document the results and share it with administrators and colleagues. Talk about what you are doing in your classroom and the positive results. Better to talk about what you are doing and not what you wish you could. Learn more about Donalyn and her book at www.thebookwhisperer.com. Join us next month for the fourth part of the interview.   Join Our Mailing List! Meet the Spellbinders Caroline Starr Rose spent her childhood in the deserts of Saudi Arabia and New Mexico, camping at the Red Sea in one and eating red chile in the other. She's taught English and social studies to upper elementary and middle-school students in New Mexico, Florida, Virginia, and Louisiana. Back in New Mexico, Caroline now writes middle-grade novels and picture books full time.  To find teacher's guides, writing activities, and information about author visits, go to her website, stop by her blog, or follow her on Twitter.    Carolee Dean has made numerous appearances as a guest poet/author at schools, libraries, poetry events, and teacher/library conferences. She holds a bachelor's degree in music therapy and a master's degree in communicative disorders, and she has spent over a decade working in the public schools as a speech-language pathologist. Her first novel, Comfort,was nominated as a Best Book for Young Adults, was named the Best YA Novel of 2002 by the Texas Institute of Letters, and was on the TAYSHAS (Texas Library Association) reading list. Take Me There is a YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers. She conducts teacher trainings on inspiring reluctant writers including "The Secret Language of Stories" and "Random Act of Haiku."             Kimberley Griffiths Little is the recipient of the Southwest Book Award, The Whitney Award for Best Youth Novel of 2010, and the author of the highly acclaimed, The Healing Spell and Circle of Secrets, published by Scholastic Press. Look for her books at the Scholastic Book Fairs, as well as two more forthcoming novels in 2012 and 2013.    She lives on a dirt road in a small town by the Rio Grande with her husband, a robotics engineer and their three sons. Kimberley is a favorite speaker at schools around the country, presenting "The Creative Diary", a highly successful writing workshop and has been a speaker at many conferences. Please visit her website to download free Teacher's Guides and Book Club Guides.       Upcoming Events Caroline Starr Rose April 19 New Mexico Library Association Youth Luncheon Albuquerque, NM July 27 19th Annual Norfolk Public Library Literature Festival, Norfolk, NE

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