The Next Big Thing

The Next Big Thing Blog Hop is a chance for authors around the world to tell you what they’re working on. The author answers 10 questions about their next book, and tags the person who first tagged them, plus at least 5 other authors.

I was tapped on the shoulder by my good friend Vonnie Winslow Crist, who is a poet and fantasy author. Thanks, Vonnie!

Check out Vonnie's Next Big Thing blog post about her latest book, OWL LIGHT.

Vonnie is an artist, too.
She created the cover art for Owl Light.

Ten Interview Questions for The Next Big Thing:

What is the working title of your book?

I ALMOST DIDN’T GO TO SCHOOL TODAY: A YEAR IN FIFTH GRADE

Where did the idea come from for the book?

When I taught high school, many years ago, the classic American verse novel Spoon River Anthology was part of our curriculum. I fell in love with the structure – getting to know a town’s secret history and its inhabitants through their poetic monologues. My students had a great time hunting through the poems for clues about who did what to whom in Spoon River.

There are over 200 poems in Spoon River Anthology,
each in the voice of a different character.

Four years ago, I was talking about novels-in-verse for children with author Lois Szymanski, author/editor Aimee Friedman, and agent Stephen Barbara. We were at a local SCBWI conference together. Stephen was also a fan of Spoon River. That night, I had an idea: Spoon River in Fifth Grade. I wrote down a few ideas, began some lines, even drew a full concrete poem before I went to bed. I still have that piece of paper!

What genre does your book fall under?

It is a contemporary middle grade novel-in-verse.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

I imagine an animated movie, rather than live action. Scarlett Johansen would be a great voice for the classroom teacher, Miss Melissa Hill.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

One class, twenty-five voices, one year in fifth grade.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I am seeking representation for A YEAR IN FIFTH GRADE.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

The first draft took about six months. At the time, I was sticking closely to my source material. Because Edgar Lee Master’s has one poem per person in his book, I did the same. The original draft was only 30 poems (one for each student in Miss Hill's class). I have expanded that over the last several years, giving each character multiple poems as we follow them through the school year. The book is now about 150 pages long.

Spoon River is considered to be
Edgar Lee Masters' masterpiece.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

There are many novels in verse for kids. Fewer in multiple voices and those are typically YA. The book I most admire is Laura Amy Schlitz’s Good Masters, Sweet Ladies, set in a medieval village. A YEAR IN FIFTH GRADE is the love-child of that book and Louis Sachar’s Wayside School series, which is interconnected, episodic short stories – also, really funny.

Poetic monologues for kids PLUS

funny, episodic stories in a contemporary school
EQUALS
my next big thing...
A Year in Fifth Grade

Who or What inspired you to write this book?

I work as a poet-in-the-schools for the Maryland State Arts Council. The students I meet and write poetry with – sometimes hundreds in a year – inspired this book. They get such a kick out of writing poetry with me, and I love learning about their interests, activities, likes and dislikes.

Credit also goes to my own kids. My son had just completed fifth grade when I began the book. My daughter has since survived fifth grade and gone on to middle school.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

For teachers, parents, and especially kids, I am working on supporting materials for A YEAR IN FIFTH GRADE. Included are extensive writing prompts related to the poems, but also some recipes, craft and science projects, and other random nonsense.

I am also working on a verse picture book, NINJA BALLERINA, a bedtime tale for kids who know how to balance tough and tulle.

Here is a sample from A YEAR IN FIFTH GRADE. It's in the voice of Brianna, a fifth grade girl who handles a big secret with creative flair.

School Clothes

I am hot pink loud

and no one sees

frayed seams I cover

with embroidery.

I am chic black boots

up past my knee.

No one knows they’re plastic

and too big for me.

I tell the girls

my clothes are new.

If they don’t get close,

they’ll think it’s true.

I am hand-me-downs

and thrift store jeans,

but I’m still as stylish

as the fifth grade queens.

Beadazzled jeans from www.crazymarybites.com

Here are some bedazzling Next Big Thing blogs from my fellow authors. I will add more links and authors as their posts go up.

Shirley -- The Poetry Goddess -- Brewer @Shimmer Goddess

Austin -- The Thriller -- Camacho @Another Writer's Life

And, though she's  not one of my five, she is still bedazzling...

Christine Stewart @The Real Writer 

Make Believe As Metaphor

Most of my posts are about poetry, so you may not know that I am a huge SF/F buff.

It started early, with my family watching Star Trek re-runs in the 1970s.

My father -- who saw himself in Captain James T. Kirk -- took us kids to see Star Wars on Mother's Day, 1977, hoping for shorter lines and some quiet time for my mom and new baby brother.

Dozens of classic (and "new classic") SF/F novels later, I can tell you what I love about the genre. It's all about the metaphor.

Ursula K. LeGuin's Left Hand of Darkness -- on my re-reading list -- used alien/human relationships to explore xenophobia, and homophobia.

A new dystopian YA novel, Matched by Ally Condie, looks at a society where statistics have become the basis for everything from your job to your life-partner. (Read a review here.) "The Society" even tracks the games teenagers play, gleaning information that will help match them with the optimal job and person. These are the same techniques that businesses use today to track our buying habits and target advertisements at potential customers.

Little Patuxent Review's Make Believe issue, which comes out this month, features an essay on make believe and why fantasy films and literature are both popular and important. The essay is by Vonnie Winslow Crist, whom I've blogged about before.

Stop by LPR to check out my preview of Vonnie's essay, find out why the CDC wants us to be prepared for zombies, and read a review of Vonnie's new book, The Greener Forest.

You can find LPR on Facebook (please "like" us!) or subscribe to the journal through our website, www.littlepatuxentreview.org.

National Poetry Month Issue 25

I first met Maryland poet Vonnie Winslow Crist because we had not one, but two shared aspects of our writing life.

We are both members of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators and we have both taught school poetry workshops for the Maryland State Arts Council's Artist-in-Education program.

Vonnie's writing is imbued with the magic of fairy tales and fantasy. Some of her poems are realistic, but even those have a sense of magical sense of awe about the natural world.

Vonnie's essay on the role of monsters and magic in modern culture will appear in the Summer 2011 issue of Little Patuxent Review.

If you can't wait until then, pick up a copy of her new book, The Greener Forest, which I blogged about here.

For a taste of the fantastic, click here to read Vonnie's poem "Dragons" in EMG-Zine, which specializes in fantasy and SF.

I'm sharing her ekphrastic poem, "At the Asian Art Center, February 21." The speaker in the poem is transported, not by fairies, but by a work of art.

At the Asian Art Center, February 21

by Vonnie Winslow Crist

Listen.
Hee-Young Kim has written
a poem
on four horizontal banners pressed
edge to edge like
river, grass, mountain, sky.

Look.
Strokes on these panels
translate odes chanted
by air into
the ear of Hee-Young.
And she, treasured interpreter, used
brush, paper, inkstone, ink stick
to paint mementoes of
the wind’s meeting
beneath the Coincident Moon
with shy bamboo –
beyond graceful
in her robe of silvered jade.

Read the rest of the poem at Vonnie's website.

Writing Exercise:
In this ekphrastic poem prompt, go beyond simply reacting to a work of art. Take some time to imagine the artist and his or her process in creating the painting, sculpture, graffiti.

Extension for upper elementary/middle school:
Linda Sue Park's Newbery Award winning novel A Single Shard is a work of historical fiction, but it could also be a response to today's prompt. Have students discuss how a work of art -- even a fragment -- could inspire an entire novel.

My month of Maryland poets continues tomorrow. National Poetry Month is almost over.

Poetry Friday: Make Believe

Happy Poetry Friday, everyone.

I'm glad to be back after a long hiatus. The end of winter was a busy time in my poetry life. Life in Me like Grass on Fire, the anthology of love poems I edited for Maryland Writers Association, comes out next Friday -- just in time for National Poetry Month.

I've also been selecting work for the Summer 2011 issue of Little Patuxent Review, my first issue as editor.

The issue will include an essay on the importance of make believe in modern thought, by Maryland poet-in-the-schools Vonnie Winslow Crist.

Vonnie is a contributor to Life in Me, and has her own new book out. The Greener Forest is a collection of original myths, faery fantasy, poetry and Vonnie's artwork.

 I'm just starting to read this rich book (appropriate for advanced middler school readers and older). The title poem feels like early spring -- when the first warm weather makes us want to rush outside and put our toes in the grass.

The Greener Forest

by Vonnie Winslow Crist

Leave all iron, red thread, bells,

and four-leafed clovers secured

in your cozy house.

Then, cross the yard and unlock

the gate in the out-of-the-way

corner of the fence.

Walk between its posts

into unruly grasses

who mutter with each stride.

Tug through the brambles and briar

who grip, grasp, attempt to

dissuade you from moving forward.

Next, stroll past gnarled vines

heavy with grapes,

step beyond abandoned apple trees,

crouching low,

their elongated limbs burdened with fruits,

and enter the forest.

It will be greener there,

and smell of pine, moss, wild flowers,

mushrooms, earth, and decay.

From the corner of your eye,

you'll think you spy acorn sprites

swinging on oak branches.

You'll tilt your head,

certain you  hear the voices of dryads

harmonizing with bird songs.

You'll lift your hand,

brush at the spider-web touch

of something finer than an eyelash

against your cheek --

but do not tarry.

Instead, follow the butterfly-filled path

that winds to the banks

of a stream rich with trout and sprites.

But tread carefully --

stray-sods, bogles, goblins, and such

skulk nearby waiting for the careless,

giants sleep below the moss,

and kelpies, eager to drown the unwary,

paddle just below

the water's silvery sheen.

Kneel down, but don't wade in.

Scoop a handful of cool liquid,

take a sip, close your eyes,

and proclaim your belief in Faerie.

At that moment,

should you spot an unusual pebble

or should a feather drift down

or a most colorful leaf scamper by --

grab it, hold it tightly,

and count yourself lucky.

For They have heard you,

and send bright blessings.

Published with permission of the author.

They aren't hearing us here in Maryland. We're expecting snow this weekend -- but that makes me enjoy Vonnie's poem even more.

Mary Lee at A Year of Reading is ringing in spring as our Poetry Friday host. Thanks, Mary Lee!