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| Editors: | |
| James Blasingame | James.Blasingame@asu.edu |
| Lori A. Goodson | lagoodson@cox.net |
The Membership Connection
Kay Bushman, Editor
Ottawa High School, Ottawa, KansasNews from ALAN
The annual ALAN breakfast will be held on Saturday, November 19, duringthe NCTE fall convention in Orlando, Florida. The ALAN award for outstandingcontributions to the field of young adult literature will be presented, and newofficers will be announced. After breakfast Ouida Sebestyen, author ofWords by Heart, Far from Home, The Girl in the Box, andothers, will speak. Ticket information for the breakfast will be announced in amailing to ALAN members as well as in the convention program that will be outin August.
The 1994 ALAN Workshop will be held November 16 and 17 in Orlando and willinclude presentations from Stephen Dunning, Gary Paulsen, WillHobbs, Robert Cormier, Caroline Cooney, and many otherauthors.
Application deadline for research grants sponsored by the ALAN Foundation forResearch for Young Adult Literature will be September 15, 1994. These grantsfor amounts up to $1,000 are funded by royalties from the short story booksedited by Don Gallo, by publishers of YA books, and by a portion of ALAN dues.Application materials are available from Ted Hipple, 301 Claxton Hall,University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996-3400, and must be submitted bySeptember 15, 1994.
A Report from the 1993 ALAN Workshop
The following summaries represent some of the author sessions at the1993 ALAN Workshop in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
* Fantasy Worlds, Future Worlds, Frightening Worlds
This fascinating panel consisted of Jerry Spinelli, MonicaHughes, and Patricia Windsor. Jerry Spinelli, who titled his talk"From Fried Chicken to Fiction," spoke about finding the unusual within thecontext of the ordinary, the pockets of strange in the familiar. He did this inManiac Magee when he created a world indistinguishable from myth andlegend with Jeffrey Magee as the legendary hero.
Monica Hughes spoke on "Dystopias: But with the Light at the End of theTunnel." Although Hughes writes about dystopic worlds where good technology hasgone awry due to human ignorance, worlds that may require starting over ratherthan just patching up, she likes to end her stories with a challenge thatengenders hope in the reader. She stresses that YA novels must be entertaining,not didactic.
Speaking about "Slashers and Sleuths," Patricia Windsor takes her storiesbeyond splatter punk with its overabundance of grossness. Even though shewrites about horrible situations, like the murders of a serial killer, she goesbeyond the horror to focus on friends who help each other when the worldbecomes frightening.
-- Elizabeth Poe
Radford University, Virginia
* A Thousand Glittering Windows: The Poetry of Our Lives
Naomi Shihab Nye, internationally acclaimed poet, delighted the ALANaudience by reading poetry by young adults and adults from around the world.The poems came from her collection published in 1993, This Same Sky. Nyesaid, "I think of This Same Sky as a giant dinner party, a feast of richvoices circling the table, the globe. You are invited." Rich voices, indeed.Nye enthralled us with selections from among the 129 poems from 68 countries.She shared the interesting experience of getting them translated, and to thosewho suggest, "How much is lost in translation," Nye's response is, "But howmuch is gained!"
At 14, Nye moved with her family from St. Louis, where her mother had grown up,to live in Jerusalem among her father's family. Settling in San Antonio, Texas,Nye, for the past 18 years, has been a visiting writer in schools of Texas,Maine, Wyoming, Oregon, Hawaii, and others. She says she has "naturallycollected" poems from so many people, so many places, and keeps her poems inpicnic baskets, bags, and boxes.
* Nonfiction: Voices Past and Present
Three authors of nonfiction shared their insights about research andwriting. Newbery winner Russell Freedman discussed what he does to makepeople such as Abraham Lincoln and Eleanor Roosevelt come alive for teenreaders. He reminded the audience that history is really story and showed howhe used storytelling devices to breathe new life into characters and history.For Freedman, the developing of sharp senses, the piling up of significantdetails, the use of actual quotations, and the inclusion of anecdotes about themain character are the ingredients he sees as essential for writing biographyfor young adults.
Susan Kuklin, an author of a very different kind of nonfiction, used herbook Speaking Out: Teenagers Take on Race, Sex, and Identity as thebasis for describing her approach to writing. Kuklin's ethnographic techniqueinvolved spending months in a school gaining the trust of students and faculty,taking copious notes, and conducting scores of interviews. Kuklin sees hercraft as taking the transcribed tapes and notes and making connections fromincident to incident and providing an overall structure to her book. Alwaysaware of the importance of not exploiting the people who share their lives withher, Kuklin checks their words with them to make sure she has been accurate,for she believes the book is in many ways their book with Kuklin functioning asthe conduit.
The third nonfiction storyteller was artist/biographer Diane Stanley.Using slides from her research, travels, and own artwork, she told the audienceabout her new picture book biography of Cleopatra. To find her way to the realCleopatra, Stanley had to get beyond the various stories and artisticrenderings of this famous and misunderstood woman. Stanley's travel to Egypthelped her to get a feel for the real Cleopatra and her surroundings. Withdetailed research and beautiful paintings, many of which look like mosaics, theartist/author paints a picture of the real Cleopatra -- a woman, Stanleydiscovered, was brilliant, learned, ambitious, imaginative, and bold.
-- Richard F. Abrahamson
University of Houston
* Waiting to Listen
Michael Dorris, author of the acclaimed A Yellow Raft in BlueWater and winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for bestnonfiction in 1898 for The Broken Cord, talked first of himself as areader. A book has to interest him and keep him awake; the tale has to be ahook, drawing him in. Well-written books, he believes, whether they arechildren's books or not, have to have characters who engage our interest andempathy; a plot that sets expectations and fulfills them; and a story thatshows not only the best and worst of our common experiences but also inspiresus.
Dorris then turned to describing himself as a writer. When he is writing, heworks at disappearing into the voice of the book so that the author isinvisible. He listens for authentic voices. Characters dictate to him "like aCEO" when they release their personalities. Writing a story "is like listening.There is only one plausible way for the characters to act. They chart theircourse." He believes an author is "an interactive audience for human beingsreleased in motion."
-- Diana Mitchell
Sexton High School
Lansing, Michigan
News from NCTE
The National Council of Teachers of English announces the publication ofthe ninth edition of Your Reading: A Booklist for Junior High and MiddleSchool Students, listing nearly 600 titles of fiction and nonfiction forgrades 5 through 9. The book is edited by former ALAN president C. AnneWebb, Buerkle Junior High School, St. Louis, Missouri, and is designed foruse by students, teachers, librarians, and parents. Titles are grouped bysubject matter under four main headings: Imagining, Learning, Exploring, andUnderstanding. This resource can be obtained through contacting NCTE, 1111W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, IL 61801-1096.
News of Other Publications
Greenwood Press announces the publication of Adolescents At Risk: AGuide to Fiction and Nonfiction for Young Adults, Parents, and Professionalsby Joan F. Kaywell. This is an annotated guide to recent young adultliterature that is organized into specific problem areas: alienation andidentity, disabilities, homosexuality, divorced and single parents, adopted andfoster families, abuse, eating disorders, alcohol and drugs, poverty, dropoutsand delinquency, teenage pregnancy, AIDS, death and dying, and stress andsuicide. More than 900 recommended books published through 1992 are included.To order, call toll-free 1-800-225-5800.
News of Awards
The 1994 Newbery Award was given to Lois Lowry for TheGiver. Newbery Honor books include Jane Conly's Crazy Lady,Laurence Yep's Dragon Gate, and Russell Freedman'sEleanor Roosevelt.
The 1994 Coretta Scott King Award was given to Angela Johnson forToning the Sweep.
The Young Adult Library Services Association, a division of the AmericanLibrary Association, presented the 1994 Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetimeachievement in writing books for young adults to Walter Dean Myers.
News of Conferences and Requests for Program Proposals
The Eighth Annual Young Adult Conference sponsored by the Department ofLibrary Science of Sam Houston State University will be held November 5, 1994.It will feature Gary Soto, Paul Janeczko, Carolyn Meyer,and Richard Abrahamson, as well as workshops and sessions on literatureand services for young adults. For more information, contact Teri S.Lesesne, YAC Coordinator, P.O. Box 2236, Huntsville, TX 77341, or call409-294-1151.
The NCTE International Conference, co-sponsored by the InternationalFederation for the teaching of English and in cooperation with theInternational Consortium and International Assembly of NCTE, will be titled"Reconstructing Language and Learning for the 21st Century: Connecting with OurClassrooms" and will take place July 7-9, 1995, at New York University.Featured speakers will include Peter Elbow, Janet Emig, ArthurApplebee, James Moffett, and authors from around the world. Allteachers of English (Pre-K through University) throughout the world are invitedto attend as well as present proposals. Proposals for workshops in a variety ofareas, including "Literature and Cultural Pluralism for a Democratic Society,are requested. The deadline for proposals is October 1, 1994. Submissions andinquiries should be sent to 1995 International Conference, Attn: LindaOldham, National Council of Teachers of English, 1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana,IL 61801-1096.
News of Writing Competitions
Scripts may now be submitted to The Waldo M. and Grace C. BondermanIUPUI 1995 Playwriting Competition for Young Audiences. Awards will bepresented to the top ten finalists. Four cash awards of $1,000 each will bereceived by the top four playwrights. Winning plays will be given a week ofdevelopment work prior to being showcased in polished readings at the NationalYouth Theatre Playwriting Symposium held in Indianapolis, March 30 - April 1,1995. All submissions must be accompanied by an official entry form and be sentby September 1, 1994. To receive detailed guidelines and an official entryform, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to W. Mark McCreary, YouthTheatre Playwriting Competition, 525 N. Blackford Street, Indianapolis, IN46202.
