Frances Dowell’s Journal

You know, I’d love to get a paper every morning called The Reading News, where all the reports are about what people are reading and what books they recommend. Of course, then I’d have even more books piled around my study than I already do.

I’m still working on the stack I last picked up from the library. I bounce around from book to book; do you? I hope not–I feel like it’s such a bad habit on my part! I’m too greedy, I think. Anyway, I’m halfway through several, but I’ve finished two that I wanted to tell you about.

The first one is called Just Another Day in My Insanely Real Life by Barbara Dee. Loved it. There are kids’ books I read as an adult that I like but am pretty sure I wouldn’t have liked when I was ten or eleven. Then there are kids books that I read that I know I would have devoured when I was eleven, and this is one of them. The narrator is a twelve-year-old girl named Cassie. Before her father left, her family lived in a nice house, Cassie was on the swim team and had two best friends and the life of your average middle class, middle school kid. But now Cassie lives in an apartment with her mom (who works all the time), her older sister (Miranda, who never does what she promises she’s going to do–like buy groceries), and her younger brother, Jackson, who Cassie’s concerned has a learning disability. Add to that the fact her supposed best friends act like she’s no longer good enough for them to hang out with. Fun life, right?

This could be a depressing book, but it’s not. There’s a lot of funny stuff, for one thing. Cassie keeps a journal for her English class; at first she’s using it to write a novel (she loves to write). But after she becomes convinced her teacher isn’t bothering to read the journals he requires his class to write, she starts writing all kinds of crazy, silly stuff that kept cracking me up. And though it takes a little while, Cassie starts finding her way. Sure, she messes up a lot, she makes mistakes, she thinks she knows what’s going on, but she doesn’t always (she’s all wrong when it comes to her English teacher, for instance). But she figures things out, too: like who she can trust, and who her real friends are. A definite good read.

The other book I finished is one I got out the other night when I took Jack and Will to the library. I couldn’t believe it when I found it: Andrew Clements’ new book, No Talking. There it was, just sitting on the shelf (Jack was looking for Frindle), like it wasn’t anything special. But I love Andrew Clements and I’d been hearing great things about this book. So I snatched it up. And I finished it quick, too–because Jack wanted to read it after I was done.

The basic set-up is this: The fifth graders at Laketon Elementary talk so much, they’re known as the Unshushables. So when Dave comes up with the idea of not talking, it’s pretty revolutionary. Suddenly it’s a competition between the boys and girls: who can say the fewest words between Tuesday and Thursday. The adults in the fifth graders’ lives–parents, teachers, and Laketon Elementary’s principal, Mrs. Hiatt–don’t know what to do. It’s kind of nice that these kids are finally quiet, but sometimes being quiet can be more disruptive than you might think.

No Talking is another winner. It’s classic Clements: Smart, funny kids, interesting adults, a great premise. I recommend it highly.

I’m about halfway through Millicent Min, Girl Genius, which is hilarious, and Donut Heart, also really good. I’ll report back when I finish them.

I love getting mail! And it always makes me feel great when someone has liked one of my books enough to tell me so.

If you want to write me a letter, great! Here’s some things I think you should know:

1. It can take anywhere from one to three months for me to get your letters. It usually takes me a month or so to write back. If you’re doing a school project on me or my books, writing me with questions is not the best way to go about it. There’s lots of information about me on my Website–both personal stuff as well as what inspired me to write each of my books.

2. Be sure to include your address on your letter. Sometimes letters get forwarded to me without their envelopes. If your address isn’t on your letter, I can’t write you back.

3. Be sure your first and last name as well as your address is printed neatly on your letter. I can’t write you back if I can’t read your address or your name.

4. Even if you’re writing as part of a classroom project, put your home address on your letter. If you send me a letter in February, I may not get it until May, and I might not write back until June. If you’re out of school, you might not get my letter.

5. Sometimes people ask me to send them books. Sorry, but as much as I might like to, I can’t.

The other day I got two letters returned. One was to Destiny Wright, the other to Jesika Witzens. I don’t know if they’ve moved or if I didn’t get their address right, but if Destiny and Jesika ever read this, I wrote you guys back! Send me your new addresses!

I always write people back. Always. So if you don’t hear back from me when you’ve sent me a letter, then something happened. Write me again. Or e-mail me at fdowell@mindspring.com and tell me. (Please don’t e-mail me with questions for reports you have to write. I’m not here to do your homework for you!)

Just started Lisa Yee’s So Totally Emily Ebers, which was published earlier this summer. I’m loving it. Two chapters into it, I put another one of her books, Millicent Min, Girl Genius, on hold at the library. I know I’m going to like it.
I picked up several books at the library today: Donutheart by Sue Stauffacher, one of my favorite writers (have you read Donuthead yet? If not, please go do so, and read Harry Sue while you’re at it); Penny from Heaven by Jennifer Holm, another one of my faves, and Just Another Day in My Insanely Real Life by Barbara Dee. I’ve never read anything by Barbara Dee before (maybe because this is her first book?). I chose this book entirely by its cover (and title).

Two books I can’t wait to read: The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt, which a lot of people are raving about, and the new book by Gennifer Choldenko (who wrote Al Capone Does My Shirts, a totally awesome read), If A Tree Falls at Lunch Period.

It’s a good thing Will’s back in preschool next week. Otherwise, I’d never have enough time to read all these books–and write them, too!

My son Jack is a big reader. Big, big, big time reader. He taught himself how to read when he was four-and-a-half and he’s been a reading machine ever since.

His favorite books include the entire Harry Potter series (of course), the Artemis Fowl series, The Lightning Thief series, and any comic strip collection he can get his hands on (he loves Peanuts and Foxtrot and Calvin and Hobbes especially). Sometimes I give him books to read, books he might not choose for himself, but he usually ends up liking, such as My Side of the Mountain and The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer, two books I got him to read this summer.

In fact, The Sea of Trolls turned out to be a super big hit. Such a big hit, in fact, that when he found out there was a sequel that had just been published (The Land of the Silver Apples), Jack used a birthday gift card buy his very own copy.

Jack reads so much and so fast, I can’t keep up with him. I tried to catch up with him with Harry Potter, but he beat me to the finish line, no problem. But this weekend I started reading The Sea of Trolls. I figured I’ll read that, then The Land of the Silver Apples, and then, when the third book of the trilogy comes out in 2008, I’ll rush out to the store to get it and finish it before Jack gets a chance!

Actually, the real reason I’m reading The Sea of Trolls is just because I like the idea of reading some of the same books that Jack is reading. Some of my favorite books ever are written for kids in the 8-12 year-old range, and it will be fun for me to have someone to discuss them with. In fact, that’s one of my favorite things about visiting schools–I get to talk with people who love the same books I do.

My son Jack started third grade today. My favorite years of school were probably from third through sixth (although these years were not without their troubles; for details read The Secret Language of Girls and pay particular attention to Kate). One, you do a lot of interesting learning during the middle grades. I still remember a bunch of projects I worked on–gypsy moths and Eskimos and the day we had to bring in food that was either sweet, sour, salty or bitter (I brought in a pop tart, in part because I only remembered I had to bring in something at the last minute, in part because I really liked pop tarts). And I definitely remember the books I read. In third grade my teacher, Mrs. Pell, read us The Cay by Theodore Taylor. I was devastated by it and loved it, and have read it many times since.

All summer Jack showed not one bit of interest in going back to school, but one afternoon last week he looked up at me from where he was reading and said, “I’m starting to get bored with summer.” And sure enough, at yesterday’s open house at his school, he was running around saying hey to everyone and checking in with all of his old teachers. This morning he was up twenty minutes earlier than he had to be. That won’t last. But I hope his excitement about being back at school will.

See, I am going to be better about blogging, I promise!

I feel really badly because I just saw that I have two comments from last fall. I didn’t even know I could get comments. So to the two people who commented, I’m sorry (not that you’re still checking this blog, since it’s been so long since I posted last, but just in case … really, I’m sorry that I never wrote you back).

Today is another hot one. It’s early afternoon, and Jack and Will are having quiet time. Jack has a cold and staying home from science camp today. I don’t think he’s too disappointed, since yesterday camp wasn’t that great. It’s called “Toy Science,” which sounded like fun, but Jack says all they did yesterday was race little cars on different surfaces, and the counselors barely paid the kids any attention. I’m going to have to call or e-mail somebody and complain, but since it’s just a week-long camp, I don’t think there’s much time for improvements to be made. All I know is, we won’t be signing up for any camps at this particular place next summer.

So everybody’s home and it’s too hot to do anything and Jack has a cold so what could we do anyway? I think mostly what we’ll be doing is driving each other crazy. Now that I’m a mom, I’m much more sympathetic to my own mom. I should call her up everyday and say, “I’m sorry I drove you nuts when I was a kid!” I don’t recall my mom getting mad at us too often (I’ve two brothers, an older one and a younger one)–she was a much more patient mother than I’ve turned out to be.

I should mention that I’ve got a new book coming out at the end of August. It’s called Phineas L. MacGuire … Gets Slimed! It’s the second in this series I’m doing about a fourth grade boy named Mac who loves science. The third book, Phineas L. MacGuire … Blasts Off! comes out next summer. The Phineas books have been a lot of fun to write–they’re for younger readers (7-10), and they’re funny (or at least they’re supposed to be), and I generally don’t have to revise them as much as I do my other books. I think it’s because the plots are much simpler and lighter.

I have another new book coming out in January called Shooting the Moon. It was originally called Knock (I wrote about it in an earlier post), and I still like the title Knock better. But my editor and people on the marketing team at Atheneum Books for Young Readers thought that Knock was more of a YA title. One of my problems with the new title is that in the book two of the main characters play a lot of gin rummy. When you’re ready to count points in rummy, you knock. “Shooting the Moon” is actually something you do when you play Hearts. Anyone who knows anything about cards will think I’m an idiot.
Now quiet time is over and Jack and Will are running around casting spells at each other (Jack is a huge Harry Potter fan, and Will has picked up all sorts of HP knowledge from him). This is actually against the rules, since they always end up fighting after they’ve yelled “Stupify!” at each other a hundred times. So I guess I will have to go be the enforcer and tell them that if I hear any more spells, everybody’s going back their rooms. Yeesh …

… and we’ll see how it works. I started this blog last year with the idea that I’d write about the books I was reading, but then I never found the time to do a good job. Writing book reviews–especially about books you like–is hard work. You have to summarize the plot without giving too much away, and you have to give specific reasons why the book is good and why you think everyone else should read it. And since I love to read, it made perfect sense to try to do this. But it didn’t work out.

So now I’m just going to write about what’s going on my life, and if I come across some great books I think you should read, then I’ll mention them.

Right now what’s going on my life is what’s going on in your life if you live in the northern hemisphere: summer. And today it’s serious, heart of August summer. One hundred degrees and rising, the air thick and muggy, everything with a haze over it. It’s three in the afternoon, and I’m writing this at the dining room table while my son Will rolls around the floor, bored to tears (his big brother, Jack, is at a friend’s house). Will and I had a big craft project planned (making sea shell critters), but we can’t find the glue anywhere, so we played a game of Sorry instead. When I finish up writing this, I’ll see if Will wants to color in the Scooby Doo coloring books we found when we were looking for the glue in Jack’s room. I still like to color–in fact, it’s one of my favorite kid things to do. Much to my sons’ dismay, I don’t like playing games very much (I like doing arts and crafts and reading them books), although to be nice, I will play Sorry and Trouble and the card game, Cribbage (which I actually do like a lot, though in general I’m not much of a card player, either). Clifton, my husband, taught Jack and Will to play Rummy this summer (though Will, who’s four-and-a-half, plays a half-crazy version that bears some resemblance to the real game, but I’m not sure how much), and they’re always trying to get me to play, too, but I’m a spoil sport. I’d rather read.

Two weeks til school starts for Jack; three weeks until Will’s back in pre-school. I was hoping to get a good start on a sequel to The Secret Language of Girls this summer, but it will have to wait. Instead, I’m working on a couple of projects: knitting a certain someone a sweater for Christmas and sewing a patchwork throw for a certain someone else. Well, I haven’t really gotten to the sewing part of the throw. In fact, I barely know how to sew. I got my sewing machine last fall, and so far all I’ve sewn is two aprons. Right now I’m at the cutting-out stage of the project, which is the worst part for me. I have a hard time cutting in a straight line. I think I just need to practice. I keep telling myself that everything takes practice, even things that seem simple, like cutting out little squares of fabric. I hope that one day I might even be able to sew myself a shirt, but that will be someday in the far, far future. I’m a slow learner.

Right now I’m reading Eggs by Jerry Spinelli. So far, so good. Jerry Spinelli is one of my favorite writers (Maniac Magee is one of my favorite books ever), so it’s always a big deal when one of his new books comes out.

I’m also reading Runaway by Alice Munro for my bookclub, and Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years 1963-1965, by Taylor Branch, the second in a trilogy about Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Civil Rights Movement. The first book, Parting the Waters, was almost 1,000 pages long, but somehow I got it read.

Just finished this today and wanted to write about it while it’s still fresh in my mind. I’ve been hearing good things about Shug, so I decided to make it my monthly book buy. Mostly I check out books from the library, but I try to support my fellow children’s book authors by buying at least one middle grade or YA novel a month (and sometimes more, if it’s taking my library forever to order a book I’m dying to read).

The first time I picked up Shug in the bookstore, I wasn’t sure if it was the book I wanted to buy, so I put it down and bought Dairy Queen instead (a great book, but it’s YA, and I’m going to stick to writing about middle grade fiction, since most kids who find their way to this blog probably aren’t YA readers yet). Then I heard yet more great things about Shug, so I bit.

And I’m glad I did. Shug is one of those books that feels like your life, at least if you’re a twelve-year-old girl (which I once was, and still am in my heart). There’s such a shift in your life when you go from sixth to seventh grade. Popularity, which has been important for awhile, becomes extremely important, and friends who were a perfect fit a year ago now feel like the wrong size. Being cool takes on new meaning (and often means taking risks you’re not sure you really want to take—and you know your mom and dad don’t want you to take). It can be a rough time.

Shug is a twelve-year-old (real name: Annemarie; Shug is what her mom calls her, short for Sugar). On the verge of starting seventh-grade, she realizes she’s in love with the boy next door, Mark, who up until then was always one of her best friends. Have you had that experience, where one second you like somebody as a friend, and the next second you like-like them? It’ll throw you for a loop, that’s for sure.

On top of that, Shug’s friends are starting to pair off. When her best friend, Elaine, gets a boyfriend, that’s all she talks about. On top of that, Elaine’s in with the popular girls. Shug doesn’t like these girls, but she’s not brave enough to walk away from them—and she doesn’t want to lose Elaine’s friendship. At home, Shug is dealing with her parents’ difficult marriage and her mother’s alcoholism.

I know, it sounds like the recipe for a soap opera. But the author, Jenny Han, keeps everything real. Nothing ends perfectly, but not everything’s a total disaster either. The characters all seem like people you actually know, both the boys and girls. What’s nice is not all the popular kids are evil and snobby (well, one of the girls pretty much is, but another one, who seems horrible, is revealed be human and vulnerable after all), and Shug has her share of flaws. She has a sharp tongue and says hurtful things when she’s angry. One of my favorite scenes is when Shug goes and apologizes to a girl who she’s
said something terrible to (the other girl started it, but what Shug said was worse).

When I was ten, eleven, twelve, I really wanted to read books about what I was going through. One of the reasons I wrote The Secret Language of Girls was I wanted to get down on paper how intense this time of life can be. The problem is, a lot of books that deal with the tween years oversimplify kids’ problems or make life seem like a sitcom. Shug gets it right.

What I’m reading now: Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata (it’s good!)

At least with this draft. It’s the third draft of this novel, which is tenetively called KNOCK, and I feel like it’s pretty close to being finished. But I’ve felt that way before and learned that I was wrong, wrong, wrong. My editor, Caitlyn, is the nicest person in the world, but if she’s not satisfied that I’ve done everything I can do with a book, she sends me back to the keyboard. Again and again. And again.
The good news is, I love to revise. First drafts are painful for me because I have to come up with a plausible plot. Some writers are naturally good at this; I am not. I think it’s because it takes me two or three drafts of a book to really get to know my main character, and it’s not until I know a character that I can tell a compelling story about him or her.

Usually what happens is I write a first draft, and once I’ve come up with something I think isn’t completely humiliating I send it to Caitlyn. Caitlyn will write me a letter with her general impressions and her ideas for revision. With Chicken Boy, she essentially asked me to consider rewriting the book from the perspective of another character (Tobin, who was a secondary character in the first draft). With the new book, she felt like the story wasn’t focused enough on the main character, a twelve-year-old girl named Jamie. Jamie’s brother decides to enlist during the Vietnam War, which causes conflict within the family. Caitlyn felt like Jamie was too much of an observer and not enough of an actor.

Unfortunately, Caitlyn never tells me exactly what I should do (I’m always begging her to just tell me what to write, but she won’t). She makes me figure it out for myself. Which I think–I really, really hope!–I’ve done with this draft. I’m going to re-read the whole thing in a few days and send it to Caitlyn. I’ll let you know if she likes it.

I’m finishing a book–will be back soon (next week, I hope) to talk about books, writing, and whatever crosses my mind.