X. J. Kennedy was first to start, bright and early on Thursday morning. Mr. Kennedy was very charming with his dry wit and great love of poetry. He really shined when he recited poetry. (I need to go find his King Tut poem - it was hilarious.) What he said about poetry and children has stayed with me, is that children like poems that rhyme and have a regular rhythm. The free verse poem is not very well received in his experience. I'm a reluctant reader of poetry, but now I want to go check out some his poetry collections.
Vivian Vande Velde spoke about how she comes up with ideas for her stories and her feelings for her book covers. She loves fantasy and magic, but it bugged her when the heroine always had perfect hair, perfect clothes, etc. She wants her character to be real - they need glasses or have curly, wild hair, etc. She shared how she came up with the beginning idea for several books - flower displays along the roadside (Remembering Raquel), her dog (Smart Dog), and she likes to play video games but isn't very good at it (Heir Apparent.) Her comments about the illustrations on her books were hilarious. My favorite came from Companions of the Night. She showed the covers from various countries with my all time favorite from I believe, France. There's a decapitated and very bloody teddy bear laying discarded at the bottom of stairs. Ms. Vande Velde was laughing as she declared that no teddy bear was harmed in the making of this book. The teddy bear had been safely retrieved from the laundry mat and brought home by the sixteen-year-old character. And she has a book Stolen coming out in September according to Barnes and Noble - YAY!
Candace Fleming is an author I'm not very familiar with, but I intend to change that situation. She remembers telling stories (no, not fibs, not at all) at a very young age. (She now realizes the difference between facts and using her imagination to dramatize a story.) She discovered in college a love for history and uses both her enjoyment of storytelling and history to write stories for children. She related how she wanted to add Mary Lincoln's voice to her new book The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary coming out soon. (I about fell off my chair when Ms. Fleming said she wanted to name it Abe and his Babe). I was enthralled when she described how she researched for material on the Lincolns, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Amelia Earhart. Ms. Fleming grew up in the town where Abe Lincoln was born. She and her friends played in the famous log cabin he lived in long before the state decided to guard it. She wanted to add something different to her Lincoln story. We know alot about Lincoln, but not that much about Mary, especially the seventeen years after her husband died. I agree with Ms. Fleming that children deserve books whose author seeks out original or first-hand material for their books instead of rehashing the same old thing - (just don't touch Ben Franklin's printing press again! Oh my gosh.... that was a funny story. Complete with her horrified children and the very nice security people telling her to leave.)
Jennifer Holm (in her pink dress and mouse ears) gave credit (or blame) for the inspiration of a couple of her stories to her mother. Her mother and grandmother gave Ms. Holm the idea for Penny from Heaven (one of my favorite books.) Her mother is a pack rat and has kept tons of stuff in her basement that inspired the Middle School is Worse than Meatloaf: A Year Told through Stuff. The new Baby Mouse is orange for Halloween. And I loved the pink bike her husband gave her. She told us that her husband loves it when she researches materials for her books, because one of the things she likes to do is try out the food from the region, country or time period her book is placed in. She tried out some dishes from the historical Boston Jane series. She thought her attempt was disgusting, but her husband chowed it down. She wanted to try out of the Italian dishes from her Italian side of her family (read Penny From Heaven), but her aunts don't share well, let alone write anything down.
Wendell Minor is an amazing artist. He used a power point presentation to show us his work. His work ranged from book covers for adult authors like David McCullough and Mary Higgins Clark to illustrating picture books for Jean Craighead George and Buzz Aldrin, to his recent collaboration with his wife in a soon to be published book If You Were a Penguin. (Mr Minor said he wanted it to be cute, but to keep the pictures real. This a book to watch for. It's very good.) Mr. Minor has a great love and respect for nature and American history, and it showed in his beautiful art work. It was interesting to have such a talented artist there after Vivian Vande Velde showed covers of her books that so frustrated her.
Kenneth Oppel was influenced by the bold, swashbuckling Han Solo character from Star Wars and his fascination with Dungeons and Dragons role playing. He called himself a Dungeon Master tyrant and enjoyed creating games far more than actually playing the game. (Real characters would wonder off and not do what they were supposed to. Very frustrating.) He also said that his time was not so structured like so many kids these days, and was allowed to be bored. (He became a very good typist at a young age.) Mr Oppel declared that kids should be allowed to be bored. Boredom can be a way to creativity! He read a letter to us from a distraught, former fan after the ending of the Silverwing series. The fan hated!!!! the ending of the series!!!! and was very angry with the author!!!! Mr. Oppel explained why he ended the bat series the way he did. Sometimes the good guy comes to a sad ending and the bad guy doesn't - just like in the real world. He has the third book in the Airborne and Skybreaker series coming out in February called Starclimber and a picture book scheduled to come out in May. What a great conference!
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