68th BREAKFAST WITH THE AUTHORS, Santa Barbara, CA, Pajama Party Zoom Edition

Screen shot of authors and participants at the Santa Barbara 68th Breakfast with the Authors

On Saturday, November 14, I and eighteen other authors participated in the first ever Zoom Breakfast With the Authors in Santa Barbara. There were two sessions. The first was a set of three 20 minute workshops, with authors and illustrators sharing tips with participants. In my session, I worked with students to create a pyramid poem inspired by a photo of an animal. This is a writing project I have often done as a writer's workshop when I do author visits at schools. Using a photo of a mother bear and her cubs as our inspiration, we created the following poem:

Bear

Mother bear

Mother brown bear 

Mother brown bear drinks slowly

Mother brown bear drinks slowly in Alaska.

Mother brown bear looks like a vacuum cleaner as she drinks slowly in Alaska.

If I were a brown bear I would eat all the fish in the river.

In the second half of the mornng, I and each author gave a 3 minute presentation, followed by an informal question and answer session in small groups.

Many thanks to Scott Spector, Rachel Lawton, Matt Zuchowicz and Fred Borchers at the Santa Barbara County Office of Education for organizing the event!

BREAKFAST WITH THE AUTHORS in Santa Barbara, Virtual Edition, Nov 14, 2020: Save the Date

TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY! 

I am looking forward to the 68th annual Breakfast With the Authors in Santa Barbara, Pajama Party Zoom Edition, to be held Saturday, November 14, 8:00-9:30, and 9:45-11:30. The first session will be for students and will consist of three writing/illustrating workshops. The second session, for librarians, teachers, and other adults, will include presentations by 18 authors, including myself.

To register for the event and receive the Zoom link, go to s.sbceo.org/breakfast2020 . The event is free for Santa Barbara County residents; a small fee is charged for those outside the county.

Radical Changes in the Editing Process: Santa Barbara Breakfast With the Authors

Greg Trine, Joan Graham, Heidi Gill, Susan Casey, Valerie Hobbs, Alexis O'Neill, Sherry Shahan, Mel Gilden, Sara Kras, Marianne Richmond, Caroline Arnold, Robin Mellom, Amy Koss

Last Saturday I participated, along with thirteen other authors, in the 62nd annual Breakfast with the Authors sponsored by the Santa Barbara County Office of Education.  After time to mingle and chat and eat a delicious breakfast we each had the opportunity to address the question:  What is the most radical change you have made to your manuscript in the editing and rewriting processes?

For me, the answer was easy.  It was the conversion of my 24 page nonfiction picture book A Panda’s World (PictureWindow Books, 2006) to a 20 page board book.  First of all, the page sizes were shrunk from 11 by 11 inches, to 8 by 8 inches. (The illustrations remain the same, except smaller.) Then all the front matter (information about panda size, weight, etc.) was eliminated along with three pages of back matter (map, fun facts, glossary, etc.).  Then, the text on each page spread had to be shortened from two paragraphs to about two sentences! That's a radical change! And, the sidebars with fun facts were also eliminated. What was left were the essentials of the story.  Net result: a new book perfectly suited for a parent to read to a young child or for a beginning reader to read alone.  The board book edition of A Panda’s World will be published in February 2015, along with three other titles from the same series–A Penguin’s World, A Zebra’s World and A Polar Bear’s World.  I am delighted to have the new board book versions of these books, which make the stories available to a whole new audience.

The morning’s program also included a panel of teen readers who responded to anonymous first pages.  It was fascinating to hear their opinions and find out how they identified with the characters in the stories.
Thanks so much to Rose, Matt, Fred and Doris for all the hard work to organize the breakfast.  It is always a pleasure to participate!

BREAKFAST WITH THE AUTHORS, Santa Barbara, CA

Last Saturday, October 5th, I had the pleasure of participating in the 61st annual Breakfast With the Authors in Santa Barbara, California.  It was a morning of delicious food, good conversation with teachers, librarians, authors, illustrators, and children’s book lovers of all kinds, plus a panel discussion about the impact of the new Core Curriculum, which was followed by short presentations by the authors, all in beautiful Santa Barbara.  There were twelve other authors besides myself and we each had three minutes to update the audience on our latest work and to give our views on the Core Curriculum.  I love hearing what other authors and illustrators are doing and I’m always amazed how we each manage to get so much into our allotted time. The panel discussion of the of the Core Curriculum, expertly moderated by Matt Zuchowicz from the County Education Office, included Barbara La Corte, principal at Hope Elementary School in Santa Barbara, who has hands on experience in putting the new program in place at her school; me, representing the author’s point of view; and Erin Frazer, buyer at Chaucer’s book store in Santa Barbara, who commented how the Core Curriculum is affecting her business. After the initial discussion, an open mic forum allowed people in the audience to express their points of view.  I felt honored to be part of the panel–I learned a lot in preparing! I’ll put my thoughts in a future blog.

I have attended in the Breakfast With the Authors many times in the past.  I believe the first time I came was in 1981, when I was a new author and one of my new books was Animals That Migrate.  The last time I came was in 1999.  It was great to be back!  Thank you Rose Koller, Matt Zuchowicz, Fred Borchers, and all the staff at the Santa Barbara County Education Office for putting on another great event!  Hurray for children’s books and reading!

The authors and illustrators who were there:  Caroline Arnold, Susan Casey, Tina Nichols Coury, Joan Bransfield Graham, Carol Heyer, Valerie Hobbs, Sarah Lynn, Michelle Markel, James Mihaley, Karen Lee Stevens, Greg Trine, Lee Warlaw and Eugene Yelchin.