Dianne White

Here’s a link to some beautiful photographs of people around the world reading: “Steve MCCurry’s Blog -  Fusion: The Synergy of Images and Words” TAKE A LOOK!

photo credit: TheeErin

I just ran across a mention of this VERY cute book on Twitter – COOL DOG, SCHOOL DOG by Deborah Heiligman, illustrated by Tim Bowers.

Deborah’s the author of the beautiful, award-winning novel, CHARLES AND EMMA and it just so happens that I met (and ate lunch with) her and her cousin, a former colleague at my school, while attending the SCBWI National Conference in LA last weekend.

Deborah has made a video of her reading COOL DOG, SCHOOL DOG, to Zachary Bear, the yellow lab that accompanies her editor to work each day.

Enjoy!

We’re official.  ReaderKidZ , a brand-new kidlit website designed for teachers, librarians, and parents has launched!

On our website you’ll find: Author-in-Residence, (one or more featured authors each month,) Beyond Borders (a look at books about children from around the world), Book Room (a library of selected titles and reviews), and the Tool Box (classroom activities, Teacher’s Guides, links to interesting articles, and more!).

Just in time to welcome the back-to-school crowd, our theme for August is “New Beginnings.”

Drop by and check ReaderKidZ out!

Not sure why, but I like writing picture books about pigs.  For that reason, when I saw that Betsy Bird of Fuse 8 had placed a link to a new crazy illustrator blog called Dueling Banjo Pigs, I just had to check it out!  Too funny.  Enjoy!

Yep.  Now that school’s out for summer, I’ve been busy catching up on those many things that fall by the wayside. I’ve picked up – and, most importantly, caught up -  on all the household basics since I clocked out, on the last day of school.

Believe it or not, summer vacation is almost over. But not to worry.  I’ve had a grand time with my favorite writing buddies in Taos, New Mexico.

We stayed at the Laughing Horse Inn (a story in itself), former digs of some well-known celebs/artists who made Taos their get-away spot. Folks like Georgia O’Keefe, whose ghost is purported to visit the Laughing Horse from time to time (and sit on her bed!).

We had no such sightings, but we did have a marvelous time.  Laughing (it *is* the Laughing Horse Inn, after all), catching up, critiquing, eating, and yes, occasionally, actually writing.  Amazing!

Since my return, I’ve been working with several writing friends on a fabulous new website that we plan to unveil August 1st. We’re gearing our site towards the K-5 crowd, and we hope it’ll be a welcome addition to kidlitosphere.  Details soon.

In addition I’ve been taking a photo class with the goal of *finally* learning how to use my DSLR camera.  I’ve picked up many helpful tips, including a short course on all things Photo Shop Elements.  I couldn’t be more pleased.

Tomorrow, I’m off for one last getaway before school begins.  The good news?  I’ve been inspired by my friends’ amazing critique skills and this interview with the Plot Whisperer, re: Uma Krishnaswami‘s writing process and her latest picture book, OUT OF THE WAY! OUT OF THE WAY! I’ll be carrying along my laptop and plan to finish (fingers crossed) a picture book revision that’s been haunting me for months and months.

HAPPY 4TH!
photo credit: seantoyer

My dear Vermont College teacher and friend, Kathi Appelt, stopped by Peachland Elementary earlier this week as she was finishing off the last days of her Keeper tour.  What a treat. Our Peachland community of teachers and students LOVED peeking into the life of a real-live author.

Thanks, Kathi!

** Don’t forget to check out Kathi’s blog, too!!

This week, I’ve been enjoying Natalie Merchant’s CD, LEAVE YOUR SLEEP. One of the song-poems that have been going through my head is “Equestrienne” by Rachel Field.

“See, they are clearing the sawdust course
For the girl in pink on the milk-white horse…”

Find the rest of the poem here.

Equestrienne: Poem by Rachel Field, Sung by Natalie Merchant (Leave Your Sleep).

photo credit: Muffet

It’s Poetry Friday!

A line from this poem cropped up in my memory this week.  Something about the rhythm, not the words, came back.

Poetry has a way of doing that, doesn’t it?  The memory of the sound of it can linger in some far dark corner of our minds.

So I went searching to find which of the poems I’d written once upon a time had that piece of a line/sound I was remembering.  It took a while, but I found it.

Amaryllis

Yesterday:

coral candy-striped

bright-white

blooms.

Tonight:

folded wrinkles

tired

brown

skin

wet-paper

thin

as Monarch wings.

Amaryllis,

you wither today

while I,

not yet

ready

to see you

die

learn to say

good

bye.

It’s with great pleasure that I introduce readers to Joseph Ruak. Joseph is Repagu’nu’worh and was born and raised on the island of Saipan, the setting of Nancy Bo Flood’s debut YA novel, WARRIORS IN THE CROSSFIRE.  His father’s family came from the outer islands of Chuuk and settled on Saipan during a time when few people lived on the island.

DW: You’ve known Nancy Bo Flood for many years.  Can you talk a little about how your paths first crossed, your long-term friendship, and your feelings about a person like Nancy – who is not from the island – writing a book about such a significant piece of Saipan’s history?

JR:I met Nancy through a mutual friend, who used to teach at the Northern Marianas College (NMC), where Nancy used to teach also. My friend told me that Nancy writes books, collects legends, myths and folklores. My friend encouraged me to meet Nancy regarding the idea of getting the Talabwogh Men Stick dances recorded on a written format and/or video format. You have to remember that, like many cultures, the Carolinian culture was passed down through the generations through its oral histories.

My father and I had been brainstorming ideas on how to save our traditional chants and dances when this rare opportunity presented itself.  We discussed it and decided that the best chance our chants and dances would have of being saved was to work with Nancy.

After my father and I met and worked with Nancy on our first project together, I felt like Nancy was sent by our ancestors to look for my father and me, so that we might work together to save our dances. I have since adopted Nancy to be my Nina or Godmother. Anyone who has the patience and takes the time to see another world view is an exceptional human being.

photo credit: ctsnow

DW: You were born and raised on Saipan and grew up some
20 years after the events chronicled in WARRIORS.  Unlike many, myself included, whose parents lived through WW II but experienced it far from the battlefield, your father, Felipe I. Ruak (to whom WARRIORS is dedicated), and many family members actually lived in the middle of the battlefield.

With so many reminders all over the island – memorials, bunkers, tanks, and artillery – did you ever ask your parents about their experiences during the war?  Some of these have been chronicled in the book, Saipan: Oral Histories of the Pacific War, by Bruce M. Petty. Are there other stories that have stayed with you that you’re able to share?

JR: My dad shared stories about how the students would be “disciplined” when any student came late for school. The student would be made to stand at a corner of the classroom with both arms extended forward, while two or more textbooks would be placed on the students extended arms. When the books fell off the student’s extended arms, that student  would be whipped. My dad also shared stories of having to walk more than a mile (one way to get to school)… their days would start at 4am each day. I feel very lucky to be alive after the WW II.

DW: You’ve said in an interview with Mary Eckstein that your father, Felipe I. Ruak, began to want to teach you Talabwog Man stick dances when he realized that only he and a few of his peers knew the dances.  At that time, you were getting ready to leave for college.  How did it feel knowing you were taking on a very significant role in passing along a piece of your own family’s heritage as well as that of the Carolinian people?

JR: At the time when I was learning the dances, my enthusiasm was based solely on just learning the dances for the sake of learning. And really because the energy of the dance is one that is so contagious, I couldn’t help myself but to keep learning.

It is always so fun performing the dances, especially when the team synchronizes and we all become one with our chants, our movements and our cries to our ancestors.

DW: You mention in the interview with Ms. Eckstein that when you were in your early teens, you didn’t want to embrace your Carolinian heritage. As you grew older, that changed. What brought about this change?

JR:I suppose being young and not having a lot of Carolinian role models (in my young mind, I totally discounted my father as a role model…he was just too normal!), I thought that the Chamorro kids and their parents were cooler; I wanted to be like them, I wanted my family to be like them.

When I went to college, people were interested in learning about my heritage. I asked my parents questions regarding my Carolinian heritage. I began to develop an interest in learning more about my own heritage…it has been and continues to be such an experience learning about my own heritage.

DW: In 2003, the National Endowment for the Arts honored your father and you with a National Heritage Fellowship.  The NEA awards are described as “a way of honoring American folk artists for their contributions to our national cultural mosaic.” How did your work first come to be recognized by the NEA?  The experience must have been extraordinary! Can you talk a bit about the honor and what it meant for you, your father, and the Talabwogh Man Stick Dancers?

JR: My father was still around in the year 2003, however his health did not allow him to travel with us to Washington D.C. to accept the NEA award. I felt cheated by life that my father could not be with me to receive this award. Really in my mind, my name should not appear anywhere near that award, ONLY my father’s.

DW: Do you still serve as artistic director of the Talabwogh Man Stick Dancers group?  Will you be performing at the Flame Tree Arts Festival this year, and can you talk a bit about this important cultural event?

JR: Artistic Director sounds so official, I’m simply just Uncle Joe trying to impart what little I know about my ancestral Talabwogh Men Stick Dances to the youth of my village. And yes, we will be performing at the 2010 Flame Tree Arts Festival.

The Flame Tree Arts Festival is an annual arts festival which started back in 1981 prior to my going to college. My father taught my group of teenagers at the time. There were 20 or more young people of Talabwogh who showed for practices, but in the end it was only eight of us who mastered the chants and the dances.

We were my father’s first group of students, we were also part of the first Flame Tree Arts Festival performers and continue to perform at this annual arts festival. I like to think of it as my father’s connection to us, our village and our youth. I like to think of it as my father’s small contribution in connecting our ancestors to our people. When the boys from our village and I perform —- I feel alive and well!

DW: I was fascinated by a youtube video of your Millennium Pacific crossing with Mau Piailug.  Your trip sounded amazing!  I suspect such an experience has stayed with, even though ten years have passed.  Do you have any plans to make the trip again?

JR: I do have plans to make that trip again, I just don’t know when. My mother’s health condition is at a stage these days where it’s best that I stay close by.

Many thanks to Joseph for taking the time to talk about Saipan, the Talabwogh Men Stick Dancers, and for giving readers of Nancy Bo Flood’s, WARRIORS IN THE CROSSFIRE, a peek into some of the background behind the story of a fictional boy, his family, his closest friend, and the life they endured together caught in the crossfire of one of WW II’s bloodiest battles of the Pacific.

*In addition to his direction of the Talabwogh Men Stick Dancers, Joseph gives hands-on and information-packed presentations to school children across the Pacific in his role as Public Information Officer for the Department of Lands and Natural Resources of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands. His interests have focused on coral reef management and protection of endangered animals such as the fruit bat and the green sea and hawksbill turtle.

** If you missed yesterday’s post with WARRIORS’s acquiring editor, Stephen Roxburgh, you can find it here. Debbie Gonzales of Simple Saturday posts a review of WARRIORS here. Sarah Blake Johnson of Explorations posts a review here. Julie Larios of Jacket Knack includes an interview with Helen Robinson, Art Director, on the cover of WARRIORS here.

Enjoy!

Today, I’m excited to talk with Stephen Roxburgh, founder of namelos, about Nancy Bo Flood‘s beautifully written debut YA novel, WARRIORS IN THE CROSSFIRE. Nancy and I met at Vermont College of Fine Arts and it was there, in a workshop led by Marion Dane Bauer, that Nancy first began to revise WARRIORS.

DW: WARRIORS IN THE CROSSFIRE is a book you acquired while in your position as publisher of Boyds Mills Press.  In an interview on Cynsations, you said, “I love publishing first novels, and we always have one or two on our list.”  In fact, WARRIORS was one such book.

While many editors and publishers are hard put to quantify what piques their interest when reading a new submission, what elements of WARRIORS drew you to this particular manuscript and the decision to publish a first-time novelist?

SR: Initially the book came to my attention by way of my wife, Carolyn Coman, who knew Nancy from when she attended one of the Whole Novel Workshops Carolyn runs for the Highlights Foundation. I read the manuscript and immediately recognized its potential. In particular I was dawn to the subject, which struck me as fresh and exciting, and the voice, which is Nancy’s forte. At the time I don’t recall knowing it was Nancy’s first novel, but when I discovered that it was, I was delighted.

DW: You wrote a fascinating article in School Library Journal (“Literature in translation can break down barriers between cultures. So why is our nation so resistant?”, Jan. 1, 2004) about the difficulty of publishing literature in translation and the irony of such, given the emphasis in educational circles on “multiculturalism” and multicultural literature.

photo credit: Knexon

WARRIORS IN THE CROSSFIRE, though not a book in translation, is a book about a time and place – Saipan during World War II – that is largely, to my knowledge, unexplored in children’s fiction and unfamiliar to many.

Much has been made of the care authors need to take when exploring cultures that are not their own.  Though not a native herself, Nancy came to this book and her topic with the utmost respect for the people of Saipan and their culture and only after having spent ten years living among the people, many who have become life-long friends.

In fact, it was one of these friends, Mr. Felipe I. Ruak, Reilighman, who asked Nancy to tell this story, in large part, his story, with his knowledge and blessing.

What do you say to those who would argue that no one BUT a person of Rafalawash and Rapaganor heritage has the right to tell such a story?

SR: I would say they are mistaken. The argument is old and tired, having been applied to a wide array of cultures and heritages. If a writer brings knowledge, respect, insight, and skill to the story, it will be good and true. Those are the criteria that count.

DW: In the same Cynsations interview referenced above you wrote, “My job is to make sure that we publish authors, not books.”  In a time when publishers and publishing houses are transitioning away from, if not entirely redefining, the way business is currently carried on, this is a comforting assurance.

Your latest venture, namelos, allows you to approach the business of editing and publishing books in a way that honors this commitment.  In fact, Nancy’s next book, NO NAME BABY, will be among the first published by namelos and was, in fact, one that Nancy brought to your Highlights Founder’s Workshop.

As an editor and businessman, can you talk about the overlap of the namelos and Highlights workshop models and how these two have the potential to be a win-win for both author and editor?

SR: First and foremost, I am an editor. I help writers and artists make their work the best it can be. The Highlights Foundation Founders Workshops are an ideal environment for the author/editor process because they are disconnected from the business complications that often distract authors and editors and publishers. Out of those relatively pristine encounters, I have gone on to edit and publish a number of writers and I have found that the business relationship is strengthened by our having working together beforehand. It’s a bit like dating before marriage to see if you are simpatico.

DW: You’ve talked about the namelos publishing venture on your blog and addressed many of the questions/fears authors have about this new format.  Readers interested in learning more can look to your January 2010 posts.  It there anything additional to add now that the first namelos book, POD, by Stephen Wallenfels is out?

SR: Yes, I can add that we are having a really good time. Exciting things are happening with the book and Steve and I get to experience them together, sharing everything that comes down the pike. What is often lost in the rush for success, a goal measured in attention, awards, and dollars, is the pleasure to be savored in the process.  Although it can be long and strenuous, it is the most satisfying part of what I do. Steve and I have worked together for several years and we’ve enjoyed every step of the way. Now that the book is published, we’ll share in what comes.

DW: As a kickoff to your e-publishing venture and in cooperation with Boyds Mills, WARRIORS and three other Front Street books were recently available for free download.  One reader, Sally Apokedak/Whispers of Dawn, took advantage of the offer and had this to say, “After you read it on the e-reader, you’ll want to buy the hardback. It’s a keeper.”

It seems, at least for this reader, that your marketing strategy is working. Any other thoughts or things you’d like to share about WARRIORS or NO NAME BABY or the future of e-publishing in general?

SR: Publishing is about content, not form. It about making an author’s vision and voice public by bringing it to readers’ attention. The electronic dissemination of content is, literally, a fabulous opportunity. Once people encounter the author’s vision and voice, they can decide in what form they want the content and the namelos model is to provide it. With Nancy’s book, and a few others, we “salted the cloud” with ebook editions in order to whet readers’ appetites for her unique vision and voice. The results of that effort have been gratifying and exciting. This is only the beginning of the beginning for all of us.

photo credit: myuibe

DW: I’ve never been opposed, as some are, to ebooks and though I’ve yet to buy a Kindle or nook of my own, it’s not for lack of want. With the recent launch of the ipad, I believe we’ll see a huge shift in the ebook market.  The idea of a tool, such as the ipad, that can hold one’s personal library AND serve a variety of portable computing purposes seems like just the beginning!  Any thoughts?  Will the ipad be the game-changer it’s purported to be?

SR: As it happens I’ve just finished a short piece for PW that will run on Friday [4.08.10] about my initial impressions of the iPad and sharing it with my 5-year-old granddaughter. Also I’ve been blathering away about it on Facebook and Twitter almost non-stop since receiving it on Saturday. Short answer, yes, it is a game changer. I haven’t touched my Kindle, Kindle 2, Kindle DX, nook, or Sony Reader since getting it. Now this is my business and I’m the first to admit that I’m a gadget nut, but the iPad is breathtaking … and this is the first model. These things only get better. This is just the beginning of the beginning.

Indeed.  “This is just the beginning…” WARRIORS IN THE CROSSFIRE is a beautiful book and the first of *many* more novels to come from Nancy Bo Flood.

Be sure and drop by tomorrow, when I’ll be interviewing Joseph K. Ruak who, along with his father, Felipe I. Ruak (to whom WARRIORS is dedicated), was instrumental in saving and then reviving the Talabwogh Men Stick Dances during and after WWII.