The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair.
Mary Heaton Vorse
The Red Pencil
Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
The Red Pencil (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2015) by Andrea Davis Pinkney and illustrated by Shane W. Evans is a book I missed reading, but am glad to have caught up with. Told in verse and with line drawings, it’s heartbreaking, yet hopeful.
In Darfur, Sudan, twelve-year-old Amira, wants the impossible–to go to school and learn to read and write. But her mother says her life will be farming and marriage so there is no need. After the Janjaweed attack her village, the family makes their way to a refugee camp. There a gift of a red pencil gives Amira hope.
Check out the awards and more info on the book here.
Read about Andrea and her other books here and Shane and his books here.
You can sit there, tense and worried, freezing the creative energies, or you can start writing something. It doesn’t matter what. In five or ten minutes, the imagination will heat, the tightness will fade, and a certain spirit and rhythm will take over.
Leonard Bernstein
You can sit there tense
Operation: Happy
Operation: Happy (Zonderkidz, 2024) by Jenni L. Walsh is one you won’t want to miss! (It’s coming out next April.*) Told in two points of view, it almost had me tearing up on the first page. It’s such a compelling and tense-making read, I hope it wins awards.
Jody wants a dog more than anything. Something to help going to bed feel the same no matter where she is. (Her dad’s a Marine and the family moves around a lot.)
Happy, a mixed German shepherd/collie/husky, is losing his eyesight and his handler is retiring, so he has a new job. Instead of being a military guard job, he’ll just need to make a girl happy.
But now it’s 1940 and the family has been ordered to Hawaii and Mom doesn’t want to go. She’s had a dream about “The Island.” And then they can see the battleships from their new house on Ford Island. Mom won’t even look at them, which makes Jody really nervous.
The story is inspired by a real Pearl Harbor survivor.
Jenni L. Walsh writes historical for children and adults. Read about her here and check out all her books here. I’m definitely reading more of her writing!
*I was privileged to read an advanced reader copy from the Publisher.
Writing is an extreme privilege but it’s also a gift. It’s a gift to yourself and it’s a gift of giving a story to someone.
Amy Tan