Today’s Story Time Saturdays reading comes from Sabrina, daughter to Ellen and big sister to Max from Love That Max. Ellen was gracious enough to share their family moment and a very energetic reading from Sabrina.
Pinkalicious is the book. And I may be putting this one on Buttercup’s “To Be Bought” List. Thank you, Ellen!
Oh, and by the way, please make sure to vote for Ellen. She’s a finalist in the Nick Jr. Parents’ Picks 2010 Awards for Best Parenting Blog.
Welcome to my first Story Time Saturdays post. I’d apologize for the barely-contained Mexi-fro and the scary face (read: no make-up) but somehow figured dolling up at 7 p.m. to get my daughter into bed for her nightly story routine would have totally screamed “Poser!”
So let’s focus on the moment here, people, shall we?
Today’s video is our reading of Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner. I think I love reading this one to Buttercup just as much as she loves hearing it.
I’ve been busy trying to dig up my old writing in an effort to remind myself of excitement and dreams.
Here’s a favorite. I wrote this in the 6th grade as a student in Mrs. Grabner’s Project Promise class. The poem was the cornerstone of my Roy G. Biv collection of poems about the rainbow, which was one of many selected for “publication” in the school library as part of a writing contest. Customarily, each student was given their book upon graduation, but Roy G. Biv stayed in the library until I graduated from The University of Detroit Mercy.
Turns out, the kids liked it enough to keep checking it out.
Spring is here!
Spring is here!
Hip,Hip,Hooray!
I see a robin, a cardinal,
and a Blue jay!
The snow is melted,
The grass is green,
And beautiful flowers are everywhere
to be seen!
The squirrels are scurrying all about…
And it is definitely Spring…
Without a doubt!
That’s right. I said it.
Forget modesty in the pit I like to call manuscript critique. I’m getting slammed with statements calling me out as a crappy kid lit writer when it comes to the poetry I submitted. So I revised. And it looks like that round of edits only got me more “suck.” Granted, my critiques offered some very valid points that I wholeheartedly plan on addressing, but let’s just say the tone of the critiques has left me wondering if there might be one dream less worth pursuing.
So I have three choices:
1) Put my big girl panties back on, smile pretty, and REVISE, REVISE, REVISE. Focus on the fact that I while I know my current kid lit project might not ever win an award if/when it’s published, that at least I know the intended audience does like what I have to say.
2) Take a good hard look at my strengths and weaknesses as a writer. I know I’ve got a good thing going on with my journalism background, bylines to make my mother proud, and this snappy blog. And I’m plenty proud of my memoir/momoir/bookumentary/whatever-the-hell-you-want-to-call-it Baby Ph(f)at book in the works. But these strengths do not necessarily mean that I know diddly (or have the talent needed to make up for any stated lack of knowledge) regarding writing for children.
3) Put the kid lit on the back burner and let it stew for a while so I can gather my bearings. This is my first attempt at criticism for this particular project from someone not bound by loyalty or blood and it’s been a brutal wake up call. I’m not intending to let one bully on the playground scare me off the tire swing, but before I do anything, I need to figure out if I even want back on the damned thing.
I’ve written a children’s book of poems about the Rainbow. I call it Roy G. Biv, after that sweet little acronym I learned in elementary school to help me remember the order of the colors. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Here is one of my favorites.
What do you think?
Day and Night
by
Pauline M. Campos
The difference between
Day and Night
Is only a shade of
Blue
Sky greets the
Day
Says hello to the
Sun
And accepts a hug from the
Clouds
Sky says
Goodnight
When the moon
Says hello
And the stars
Twinkle till light
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