First Barbara/First Reader- interview close, by Jan Godown Annino

We visit again with the Barbara Bush Foundation's Liza McFadden. 
To review yesterday's topics with Liza, look at First Barbara/First Reader, published on Wed., May 7, 2014.

Q

Any advice to children's writers, on writing for young children?

LIZA

 I’ve never written a children’s book so I’m not sure that I can offer much advice on the writing. That said, I talk to the authors and publishers of children’s books quite frequently and have learned astonishing things from those conversations. One thought from a publisher I remember is, don’t have a true end to your book. Think about the story as a place in time.  For instance Clifford the Big Red Dog is always friendly, outgoing and helpful; however he usually gets into trouble because of his size.  I know this clue isn’t rocket science, but it was eye-opening to me – a true “in medias res” moment – that suddenly put my beloved Miss Piggle-Wiggle and the Box Car Children in a different framework. 

We invite authors to meet with children and as I listen in on their conversations, I’m always struck by their fabulous personalities.  As Mary Pope Osborne, the author of the Magic Tree House series, shared with me a few weeks ago, she gets to live and dream and think like a 9-year old every day, and that’s a positive, magical place. Or, an email I got this week from N.D. Wilson who shared about Boys of Blur.  It combines football, Florida swamps and cane fields, and echoes of the literary classic Beowulf.  What boy/man wouldn’t be excited to continue to research in the swamps of Florida for his next book?  So, and this is by deduction, I see wonderful children’s authors who have never lost their love of their childhood, nor their enthusiasm for it.

Q
You are right. Children's writers tend to have their clay trolls/bat puppets/ tambourines at hand.

Appreciation to you, for the insider tipoff about this new novel,
BOYS OF BLUR. 

So now, what non-fiction topics do you think/know have success with young child readers?

LIZA 

Zow.  Let’s go back to that last discussion.  
While I was with Mary Pope Osborne, I met her husband Will Osborne who helps her write the Magic Tree House “companion books." For instance with Dinosaurs Before Dark, there is a dinosaurs non-fiction companion book and, if you’ve read these, they break many of the “rules” for nonfiction.  They even have footnotes!  Yet, they are some of the very top-grossing nonfiction books being published.  They’ve even developed a musical play that middle school students can do based on the books. Of course, it certainly helps that these nonfiction books are aligned with a best-selling fiction series, but I think this brilliant couple should win an award for their breakout ideas.  
Footnotes?  Music?  Fiction and nonfiction? 

Q

You are talking about pace-setters. The Osbornes work hard with winning results, in a class by themselves, Liza. Our daughter devoured  #1, the dinosaurs & most in that first MTH/Morgan LeFay librarian quest adventure group when she was a kiddo. Her favorite was the ninjas, if I remember right. But she also loved mummies. They are fun. 
And, Mary Pope Osborne is a leader in advocating for all authors, by the way.

Care to name picture books that have stayed with you from childhood? Stayed with your children, from your children's picture book years? 
Any non-fiction books to name?

LIZA

Personally, picture books never really interested me that way stories with illustrations do.  The Nome King with his tiny little legs and his scary beard sitting on his thrown, dark Mombi creating silly Jack Pumpkinhead or Professor H.M. Wogglebug, T.E with his giant pinstriped front shirt listening in at the school door, these strange and wonderful images from the Wizard of Oz stories became so much more alive because they added to one’s imaginative rendering of the story.  

As a kid, I’d borrow these books from the library all the time, and I loved them for their weight, and length as much as I loved them for their humor and imagination.  My daughter loves these books and the set was her 10-year-old birthday gift.  By the way, I recently learned that JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series will be reissued with a new, fully-illustrated edition by Jim Kay who won the Kate Greenaway Medal for his illustrations of Patrick Ness's A Monster Calls in 2012.  Now, I think I will finally read this series! 

As to nonfiction, my son devours all reptile and science books. I’m sorry I’m not at home just now as I’d go in his closet and pull out the purple encyclopedia of animals. Of course, the book would fall into 3 pieces as I pull it off the shelf – so worn is the binding.  We had so many hours of fun.  I remember that in the lining of the pages would be hidden say “6 millipedes” and there would be great questions like, “which type of frog eats its own skin”?  Of course, a great picture of a frog eating its own skin was included. Now, that is a delicious book.  Definitely our favorite of favorites in nonfiction. Pure boy and tomgirl.

Q

 What connection does singing a story, rhymed text, lyrical text or other similar formats have to do with children's book pleasure?

LIZA

Can I answer a question with a question?  How do we accurately share our emotions without strong language and verbal skills?  What carries emotion better than the sung word?

Q

Brava!
(And that was sung, back at ya.)

What do volunteers with the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy do, that children's authors can also do? In other words, please explain how children's authors can help, other than to write more good books for young people.

LIZA

You are doing a world of good by writing!  
Think of this - the number one predictor of occupational success is vocabulary.  It is how we are perceived and it all starts with word choice. 

Writing intellectually enriching books is wonderful endeavor and we love you for doing just that. Of course, if you want to do more, consider joining our efforts to help the 20% of Americans who read at less than a 5th grade level.  You know the options …from being a hands-on reading tutor …to making a donation ..to donating books.  All are wonderful and all are appreciated.  
See www.Barbarabush.org for more details.

end note, from Jan Godown Annino - The Barbara Bush Foundation works overtime to help us become a nation of readers. Since colleagues here within our Grog do the same, it’s a mighty fine fit, Grog-BBF.  Thank you Liza. Those of us who haven't had the chance to visit your informative site will likely check it out now.  Please expect us to keep writing for children & to keep reading with them. 

First Barbara/First Reader by Jan Godown Annino

I like to keep up with my First Ladies.

Maybe this little hobby dates to third grade, when Martha Washington & George were my living history project.

And also maybe it’s because I know that many of them love to write. 

And, to read.

Can you find First Lady Barbara Bush in the book cover? Center front, 3rd from the left, in FIRST LADIES, above. Barbara Bush is the author of four books. One of them is from a dog’s point of view,  MILLIE’S BOOK, which our daughter owned as a middle-schooler.

Mrs. Bush’s father was in charge of the McCall magazine empire. Her parents encouraged reading in the evenings. This and other glimpses of her unusual life are shared in BARBARA BUSH: A Memoir, & also at her comprehensive biography created by the extraordinary resource,
National First Ladies Library in Ohio.

If you are a reader or children's writer, you will likely make time to visit the Barbara Bush Foundation, which is all about achieving a 100 percent literacy rate in the U.S. This hard-charging Foundation recently awarded a grant to a deserving public elementary in our area. If it is anything like the local school I visited weekly during a school year so I could to sit with a little boy in kindergarten, to help him begin his path to reading, those children are needy & will rocket ahead with this BBF project.

I exchanged emails with Liza McFadden of the Barbara Bush Foundation.

Later this month I expect to collect our conversation in one piece at Bookseedstudio. 

Please look for Part Two of this interview on Monday, May 12, 2014.

Part One - Barbara Bush Foundation interview

Q

How might a family whose parents don’t demonstrate reading, affect their children's interest in books?

LIZA McFadden for the Barbara Bush Foundation

 As I talk to moms, I realize many of us have almost a collective memory about reading:  that as children we loved our parents wrapping their arms around us and reading.  We remember our favorites—mainly because we made our parents read them to us hundreds of times.  Those simple rhymes, the shape of those letters, the conversations about the pictures, all of those things were our parents being our first -- and best -- teachers.  

Too many people fall away from being in love with books – sometimes scarred by the way books were used in school, and frequently, I think, because watching TV or other activities seem more companionable.  I can provide lots of great physiological reasons to read:  reading has benefits similar to meditating like lower stress, and deeper sleep and lowered memory loss, and I can provide great psychological reasons to read:  a strong working vocabulary is the best defense we have against manipulation -- that’s why lawyers live and die by words.  

In the end, I think we pass on what we love. Having a child is a great time to remember that as a child reading brought you not only those stories you loved, but also, your vital vocabulary that’s helping to ensure you have a good job, and a healthy life.

Q

Should children have to read books that they don't want to? (Outside of school assignments) 

LIZA

I have a confession.  I’m a bibliophile.  In the last few months I just changed our living room into a library.  I’m guessing with Nooks and Kindles, those libraries are passé, but I love my books.  That said, you could guess I strongly believe children shouldn’t “have” to read outside of school but should “want” to read outside of school. 

I have two middle school children and they attend a school where they are required to read a lot.  In fact, the better reader you are, the more “Accelerated Reader” points you have to earn.  The difference between my two children is this: one loves to read, and this boy reads Hardy Boys and 39 Clues and every adventure book he can lay his hands on.  His sister, though an excellent student, is not in love with reading.

But, here’s what I have discovered: she does love books, she just prefers it when someone else reads them to her.  This weekend as we drove from South Florida to North Florida coming back from spring break, I read to them out loud, Waiting For Snow In Havana:  Confessions of a Cuban Boy. Everyone in the car loved hearing the story. It combined a love of killing lizards with a philosophical discussion on the proof of God – not always issues easily aligned.  Anyway, so here’s my belief:  I think reading can some in many forms, and I’m excited that the Nook and Kindle can read out loud for oral learners, as long as they have truly mastered the skill of reading.  
As I recently heard, language defines our palette of thought.  It allows us to be part of the intellectual discussion of our community and our country; it allows us to share memories of killing lizards, and to wonder in-depth about the proof of God. 

Note: Thank you, Liza. We hope our readers will return for more insights from Liza McFadden/Barbara Bush Foundation, tomorrow, Thurs., May 8, 2014

Jan Godown Annino is on twitter @BkSeedStudio. She is the author of an ALA-listed picture book, SHE SANG PROMISE: The Story of Betty Mae Jumper.