IN CONVERSATION
WITH
BARBARA DEE
October 24, 2024
Barbara Dee Writes Realistic Fiction: Talks with Guild About Best Practices
by Amy Hansen
Writing realistic fiction about issues important to middle school students requires research, but Barbara Dee said she has to be careful, because the research can be both enticing and never ending.
Barbara, author of 14 award-winning books including Maybe He Just Likes You and Star-Crossed, spoke to about 30 members of CBG at Bus Boys and Poets on K Street on October 17. Using a Q&A format, Barbara with Guild member Jason King (President and CEO, Turning the Page) and walked through her best practices in several different aspects of writing.
Researching, she discovered, could be all-consuming. So by the time she wrote Violets are Blue (published, 2016), which included discussions of special effects make-up, she learned to research as needed.
Still, the beginning of the book process continues to take an in-depth approach where she has conversations with parents, counselors, and students. "The conversations are crucial," she said, explaining she gets details that she couldn't have dreamed up. When writing Halfway Normal about a cancer-survivor, one student told her about going back to school bald. "She lobbied her mom to be allowed to wear dangly earrings." That detail made it into the book, helping the story to feel real. "Nothing can replace that kind of interaction."
While not a series, Barbara’s books all address difficult topics, such as a brother having a mental health breakdown (My Life in a Fish Bowl), climate change (Haven Jacobs Saves the Planet), and sexual harassment (Maybe He Just Likes You). These are issues that touch the lives of many readers even when they're not talking about them.
"Writing about so-called tough topics brings things up to the surface and allows [the readers] to have conversations. It allows kids to acknowledge their fears and gives them a place to start talking," she explained.
Through Jason’s questions, Barbara also addressed her proposal process (she writes a 3,000 word synopsis) and the editing process (she uses feedback from her adult daughter and her agent before turning the manuscript in to her editor). Audience members and Barbara lamented the changes in the market in the last five or so years including a decrease in the number of professional review publications, as well as a decrease in the brick and mortar bookstores.
All of Barbara Dee’s books are published by Aladdin/Simon & Schuster.
The next Children's Book Guild meeting is Nov. 21 at Busboys and Poets.
Wildoak
By Christina Harrington
Children’s Book Guild June 20, 2024
Summary by Karen Leggett Abouraya
With bright enthusiasm, Christina Harrington spoke to a full house of Guild members about her ten-year journey to publish Wildoak, a middle grade novel that won the 2023 Schneider Family Book Award for its portrayal of the disability experience.
The novel takes place in 1960s Britain. Maggie Stephens, the young protagonist, has a pronounced stutter, which seems to be unacceptable to both her father and many of her teachers. She is sent to spend the summer with her physician grandfather, who lives near the Wildoak forest in Cornwall, England, and is also endowed with great sensitivity and patience – especially toward Maggie. Maggie’s safe haven is that Wildoak forest where she befriends and nurses the snow leopard Rumpus. Rumpus had been purchased as a pet from Harrod’s department store - a bit of truth Christina was horrified to discover.
Christina’s writing process included the creation of vision boards for characters like Maggie, the snow leopard and even the forest. As Guild member and librarian Maria Salvadore noted, “The strength of Wildoak is that the snow leopard always remained an animal; he was not anthropomorphized. All characters were plausible.”
Guild author Mary Quattlebaum brought several of her writing students to the presentation after they had read Wildoak in class. “They especially admired the characterization of Maggie and Rumpus and the way Christina handled point of view, skillfully alternating third person perspective between the girl and snow leopard and deftly manipulating narrative distance,” said Mary.
Guild author Barbara Gowan recommended Wildoak as a good book “for your nature kid (or the kid in you)!”
“Writing a novel,” said Christina, “involves lots of cups of tea, LOTS of revision, lots of days when it feels a bit wobbly…and ultimately lots of perseverance.” Christina’s research included conversations with speech pathologists about speech differences like stuttering. Christina insisted that the reader of the audio version of Wildoak be not only British but have some history with stuttering. The result won the Audible Best Book of 2022 Listens for Kids. Wildoak itself won numerous awards and has been published in multiple languages with widely differing covers.PHOTO American and British coversWhy did she choose to write novels for children after earning a degree in English literature at Oxford? “Children’s books point you toward hope, and we need that.”
Behind the Scenes Look with Children's Book Awards
September 26, 2024
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By Desaray Wilson - Mnyandu
Behind the Scenes Look with Children’s Book Awards By Desaray Wilson-MnyanduOn Thursday September 26th the Children’s Book Guild of DC held its first event of the fall season, a Behind the Scenes Look at Children’s Book Awards! Panelists were esteemed Guild members Deb Taylor, Brenda Randolph, Kathie Meizner, and Maria Salvadore, each with various experiences in the world of children’s book awards. The event was moderated by Jason King of Turning the Page. The virtual event began with a moment of silence for long-time guild member Roslyn Beitler who passed away earlier this month. Jason King then dived straight away into the discussion with the questions many participants were eager to know. “How do authors and illustrators best position themselves to be considered for a book award?” The committees represented by the panelists had varying requirements, restrictions, and prerequisites. Some book awards have fees, restrictions on the number of previous publications, particular topics and genres, and so much more. So, there was a consensus among the panelists that authors and illustrators should first research the award for which they would like to be considered and its criteria.When questioned about how people can find these awards and their requirements, the panelists agreed that a simple search would turn up many databases with hundreds of awards. Kathie Meizner, librarian and Caldecott committee chair, suggested a collaborative effort on a project she’s created in which Guild members have access to view and add to a list of children’s book awards.Jason then steered the conversation towards trends in children’s books. As chair of the Children's Africana Book Award, Brenda Randolph found an increase in award-worthy books and black authors over the last several years. Deb Taylor, who has chaired and served on many American Library Association (ALA) committees, noted an emphasis on the quality of fine art as well as an increase in first- and second-generation immigrants telling their stories. Finally, while echoing Deb’s findings about illustrations, Maria Salvadore, a self-proclaimed “recovering librarian” and member of several national book award committees, also noted an increase in AI art which produces an unfortunate “sameness” in many books. She also gladly reported an increase in diverse books including race, gender, and culture. The event was then opened for questions from participants.
The Ins and Outs of Literary Agents
February 2024 Guild program
Summary by Desaray Mnyandu
A panel of CBG members and their diverse relationships with their respective agents were the subjects of this virtual forum style program. Terry Jennings served as the moderator and a panelist. The other panelists were Sue Fliess, Debbie Levy, Debra Kempf Shumaker, Rashin Kheiriyeh, and Madelyn Rosenberg.
Terry Jennings kicked off the program with introductions and an invitation to the panelists to share about their relationships with their agents. Most agreed that their agents, while friendly and open to communication, maintained a professional distance from their personal lives - except for author/illustrator Rashin Kheiriyeh, who has, what she considers, a father-daughter relationship with her agent, and Madelyn Rosenburg who is acting as her own agent after she split with her agent of ten years during the height of the pandemic.
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Panelists were candid when discussing the advantages of having an agent. “My agent has the balls to ask for stuff that I could never ask for!” explained Debra Shumaker. Similarly, author Sue Fliess praised her agent for being “persistent” and “a little bit of a bulldog” in the way she advocates for her clients. It was generally agreed that agents are particularly useful for feedback on manuscripts, understanding and translating editorial feedback, negotiating contracts to better benefit their clients, and being proactive with editors. A surprising benefit added by Terry Jennings and echoed by several other panelists, was that agents “…hold on to the bad news and wait to pair it with good news so it’s not as difficult to hear.”
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The panelists then discussed the negative aspects of their current and past agent relationships. These included agent fees, gate keeping, and incompatible work styles. After hearing a few bad agent experiences, panelist Debra Shumaker cautioned, “There are definitely red flags you should look for when searching for an agent. Having a bad agent is worse than no agent at all!” Roz Schanzer mentioned problems getting paid all she was due by agents (and publishers).
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Finally, Terry turned the discussion to how to find an agent. Within the more conventional methods, panelists suggested searching literary agency websites, publishers weekly, QueryTracker.net and literary conferences. From their personal experiences panelists also suggested some slightly non-conventional approaches like contacting recently laid off agents and following agents on social media.
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Overall, the engagement and enthusiasm for this program was high. It was obvious that agents and the topics surrounding them were quite important to both the panelists and the participants. There is clearly much to be learned from the diverse experiences of the CBG members and we look forward to similarly engaging programs! Thank you to everyone who participated.
“There’s always something of me in all my books.”
January 2024 program featuring
Andrea Beatriz Arango
Summary by Desaray Mnyandu
Andrea Beatrez Arango is a self-proclaimed “baby author” but she’s already ahead of some of her more seasoned peers. Her very first book Iveliz Explains It All was a 2023 Newbery Honor Book! Her second book, Something Like Home quickly followed and readers found it difficult to decide which book they liked best.
Both of Andrea’s middle grade books are told in verse from the perspective of a main character dealing with big life issues and the big feelings that come with them. Readers have an intimate perspective as the characters work through their conflicts with not-so-much grace.
After Andrea read a few pages of Iveliz Explains It All, the conversation of the Guild hovered over her masterful weaving of languages through the main character’s code switching between Spanish and English. This, along with the diary-like design of the book, added to the closeness readers were invited to feel towards the character Iveliz.
While Andrea doesn’t have a set writing strategy, what is consistent is inspiration from her personal experiences as a native Puerto Rican, a middle school teacher, a care giver, and a foster parent as well as her own eclectic reading tastes. “There’s always something of me in all my books.”
Interviewer Terry Jennings asked the question we’d all like to know. “What was it like to get the call?”, referring to the call from the Newbery Award committee. True to her humble nature, Andrea who initially missed the call because her phone was turned off, said, “Finding out it was the Newbery Honor was shocking and exciting! I was not prepared!”
Arango plans to return to full-time work again after a year-long break, but that will not be slowing her momentum as an author. A third book It’s All or Nothing, Vale is scheduled to be released in February 2025. Like her other books, it still includes fan favorite topics of friendship, self-discovery, mental health and more. We look forward to all that is to come from Andrea Arango.
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November 2023 Program
Pat Scales
Summary by Betsy Kraft
Guild members got an inside look at book banning at the November Guild meeting when Pat Scales shared stories and data of the recent rise of challenges of books for young people. Scales, a First Amendment advocate, is the former chair of ALA’s Intellectual Freedom Committee, and has appeared nationally as a spokeswoman for freedom from censorship. She has also authored two books on the subject: Books under Fire and Teaching Banned Books.
Books featuring LBGTQ characters were top of the 2022 challenged list with those about people of color coming in second. Other topics on the rise were those portraying kids engaged in rights and activism. Scales said the banning of books began in the eighties, mostly directed at Judy Bloom’s body of work. But the rise of social media has rapidly accelerated the trend and grown with parent groups like Moms for Liberty and other like-minded groups and laws like Florida’s Don’t Say Gay.
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Scales pointed with hope to teens themselves who have created teen banned book clubs and even brought legal cases saying the banning of books violates their civil rights. She pointed to the ridiculous extremes of the movement with the challenging of Mark Brown’s picture book, Arthur's Birthday, in which a girl brings a gift suggesting they play Spin the Bottle.
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In advice to writers, she said just keep writing good books. And to those who wish to become engaged in the fight against banned or challenged books she says stay aware of what’s happening and help spread the word.
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School Library Journal columns by Pat Scales