Looking for ways to involve your students in the NYSRA Charlotte award? Check out the website of 2012 committee member Dawn Sweredoski.
http://www.lacs-ny.org/webpages/dsweredoski/
If you follow the links on the left hand side you can see how she is engaging her middle school students in many different ways with the nominated books. For example her students are publishing book reviews on a wiki as well as reading the primary books to younger children.
In this month’s Language Arts, Valerie Bang-Jensen makes a compelling case for children’s choice reading programs. She is writing about Vermont’s Dorothy Canfield Fisher program, and I think many of her points connect well to our work with the Charlotte Award. Check it out!
Jensen-Bang, Valerie (2010). A children’s choice program: insights into book selection, social relationships, and reader identity. Language Arts, 87, pp. 169-176.
http://www.ncte.org/journals/la/issues/v87-3
And keep sending in your votes for the NYSRA Charlotte Award!
Thank you to Laura Bowers for answering questions sent in by teen readers about her NYSRA Charlotte Award nominated book Beauty Shop for Rent.
Why would the girl’s mom take the money?
As a mother, it was difficult to include this element because I couldn’t imagine deliberately hurting my kids like that. But Grace has different values. To her, the security of owning a home—something she’s always dreamed of—was more important than having respect for her daughter. Many things from her past caused her to have this belief: Feeling like a stranger in her parent’s home, being despised by her boyfriend’s family, and living with Abbey’s alcoholic father. So she believed that a place of her own would bring her great happiness, regardless of who she had to hurt.
Abbey, on the other hand, believed that security and joy came from hoarding money. So as painful as it was for me, I had to take this away from her so she would be forced to dig in deeper and discover the value of forgiveness and true meaning of happiness.
Why did you choose a shop?
In a way, the shop chose me! Years ago, there used to be a rusty sign posted in front of a charming old house that read, “Beauty Shop for Rent . . . fully equipped, inquire within.” Home beauty salons intrigued me, so whenever I passed the sign, I wondered what the owner was like. Was she older? Longing to retire? When I asked myself what would happen if a young girl was left on her doorstep, I was inspired to write this story.
What made the shop and writing the book interesting?
The characters! I loved working with Abbey, Gena, (who was based on my husband,) and the dynamic Gray Widows.
Something else happened when I started this book—I learned how to embrace my voice. Before, I kept trying to force my writing into a mold because I wanted to be successful and my definition of success was selling a book. But I was getting nowhere, so one day I decided to change my values. Writing with passion became my priority, not a contract. I became very passionate about Beauty Shop, a book that did eventually sell!
This is a lesson I must continually remind myself about. Last year, my definition of success shifted back to selling a second book and because of this, my writing suffered until I got back on track and fell in love with my current work in progress.
Can you tell us what you’ve been working on since Beauty Shop for Rent?
I’m currently in the process of selling a young adult novel that I love, love, LOVE! I’ve also written rough drafts for an adult novel, a mid-grade baseball novel that I hope to rewrite later this year and a young adult manuscript I’m now editing. It’s a little different from my normal work, so I’m very excited about it.
Has any of your life influenced this book? Like in the author’s notes it says that you like to horseback ride, while in the story, Abbey is afraid to ride a horse.
Oh, yeah, there’s a lot of my life in this book. Each character has a small element of me, whether it’s Granny Po’s pride, Edith’s loyalty, Caddie’s meekness, Rosemary’s precision, or Abbey’s anger over the past. We all have different traits within us—sometimes we feel bold, sometimes we’re timid, we could be stubborn one day and flexible the next. I use these emotions within me to capture each of their voices.
Unlike Abbey, however, I was riding horses bareback ever since I can remember and if I fell? Whatever, no big deal, I’d just brush myself off and get back on! The horse she rode was inspired by my own Mr. Ragman, a wonderful Appaloosa who was a killer barrel racer! For a photo of Ragman and more elements of my life that made it into my book, check out my website’s Fact or Fiction page. (Hint: Caddie wasn’t the only one peed on by a pig!)
Link: http://laurabowers.net/for-fun/fact-or-fiction
What made you write a book about a teen instead of an adult?
Simply because Beauty Shop for Rent was Abbey’s story, not Gena’s or Granny Po’s, and Abbey is a teen. I do think Granny Po would have a very interesting tale to tell as well, however!
Why did you include the Gray Widows?
The Gray Widows were Granny Po’s dearest friends and Abbey’s surrogate family, so there was no way to tell her story without them! Also, I love the flavor they added.
Why did you turn the house into a beauty parlor?
When I was a child, my mom used to take me with her to a home beauty salon. I loved watching the ladies get pretty and flipping through grown-up magazines like Redbook and Glamour. If I behaved, the owner would give me a lollipop and have I mentioned the gossip? Yes, it’s not polite to gossip, but they sure did have fun. These were the elements I wanted to capture and having the shop at Granny Po’s home gave it a level of coziness that may not have been accomplished had I placed the shop at a mall.
Thanks for the students who asked these questions and your wonderful support for my book! Keep reading. J
Laura Bowers
January 2009
Primary ballot book Wolf’s Coming(Kulka) is available for $3 in the January 2010 Firefly Book Club.
Young adult ballot book The Hunger Games and the sequel Catching Fire are both featured in Teen Readers Book Club, Winter 2010.
Happy shopping and reading!
Liz
Happy 2010 everyone. We hope 2010 will be the year you submit your votes for the NYSRA Charlotte award. Votes are due April 15, 2010. For more information about the voting process, visit the NYSRA site
http://www.nysreading.org/Awards/charlotte/index.html
Have a great new year of reading.
Liz
