Perseverance
Patience and perseverance are among the hardest things for children to learn. How can we make pressing on in the face of discouragement interesting to kids? By reading them amazing stories of creativity and resilience!
Jen Bryant
Growing a Nonfiction Reader
and Even a Nonfiction Writer
It is more important to pave the way for the child to want to know
than to put him on a diet of facts he is not ready to assimilate. —Rachel Carson One would never guess from the following excerpts that a certain nine-year-old would grow up to write more than 50 nonfiction children’s books. This is from my fourth-grade booklet on Florida: The Cypress swamp is a part of the Everglades.… more
than to put him on a diet of facts he is not ready to assimilate. —Rachel Carson One would never guess from the following excerpts that a certain nine-year-old would grow up to write more than 50 nonfiction children’s books. This is from my fourth-grade booklet on Florida: The Cypress swamp is a part of the Everglades.… more
Jen Bryant
Author and poet Jen Bryant is known for her picture book biographies of artists, poets, wordmongers, composers, and playwrights. Her verse and prose novels are well-researched, often focused on an historic event like the Scopes trial or the Lindbergh kidnapping trial or Captain Kidd’s buried treasure in New Jersey. Always focused on her next book, we’re thankful Jen took time from her schedule to answer our Skinny Dip questions. … more
Some Illustrator!
In my next life, I’m coming back either as a cat living in our house (think Canyon Ranch for cats), or Melissa Sweet. I’ve followed her career since she illustrated James Howe’s Pinky and Rex (1990). I love this book for its atypical characters (Pinky is a boy who loves pink and stuffed animals, and Rex, his girl friend, is into dinosaurs), but also for Melissa’s fresh-faced characters and bright watercolors.… more
Working with an Editor
“What’s it like to work with an editor?”is a question I often get from teachers, students, and aspiring authors and it’s one that takes some time to fully answer. In the best situations, an editor’s relationship to her author is like a coach’s relationship to an athlete: knowing her author’s personality, talent, and potential, she encourages her strengths, while tactfully pushing her toward improving on her weaknesses.… more
Melissa Sweet
In this interview with Melissa Sweet, illustrator of A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams, our Bookstorm™ this month, we asked six questions and Melissa kindly took time from her busy days of visiting schools and creating art.
Do you recall the first time you encountered a William Carlos Williams poem? My first introduction to William Carlos Williams was when I was seven years old and went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.… more
Do you recall the first time you encountered a William Carlos Williams poem? My first introduction to William Carlos Williams was when I was seven years old and went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.… more
Jen Bryant
In this interview with Jen Bryant, author of A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams, our Bookstorm™ this month.
Do you recall the first time you encountered a William Carlos Williams poem?
I was in high school—and it was part of an anthology reading that we did for English class. I had disliked/not understood/ been unmoved by all of the other poems in this assigned reading (I recall that the language in those poems was archaic and flowery, and the forms very, VERY traditional)—and then—whooosh—like a breath of fresh air, here were a few selected W.… more
Bookstorm™: A River of Words
Author Jen Bryant and illustrator Melissa Sweet have teamed up on a number of picture book biographies about creative artists. We’ve chosen to feature their very first collaboration during this month in which poetry takes the spotlight. By telling us the true story about poet William Carlos Williams’ childhood and growing up, with his clear poetry surrounding the pages, they awaken interest in young people who may think this no-longer-living, ancient (he was born in 1883 and died in 1963) poet is not within reach.… more
Jen Bryant: The Writing Apprenticeship
by Jen Bryant
Several months ago, I was asked to be on a panel for a new-writers workshop. During the question and answer period, one woman commented: “I keep hearing that writing is a craft that requires time and practice to master. I get that … but as someone who’s eager to be an apprentice but has neither the time nor money to enroll in an MFA program, how — exactly — do I go about finding someone who’s qualified, willing, and available to mentor me?”… more
Skinny Dip with Jen Bryant
What animal are you most like?
Probably a cat. I’m very independent, I love to sit in a puddle of warm sun, I spend a lot of my free time watching birds, and I’m very attached to my home. (I would have said a dog, but I’m not that obedient!)
Which book of yours was the most difficult to write or illustrate?… more
Jen Bryant: It’s Not Pretty!
by Jen Bryant
I’ve always had an ambivalent relationship with the word “inspiration.” On the one hand, I acknowledge the illusive, inexplicable aspect of the writing process that I can’t control, when the lines, paragraphs, pages seem to flow from somewhere outside of myself, knitting together almost seamlessly. On the other hand (and this is the much, much heavier hand) I believe that good writing — like all good art — comes from conscious effort, commitment, and lots of trial and error.… more