The Adams School
P.O. Box 29
27 School Street
Castine, Maine 04421
326-8608
www.adamsschool.com
Go Patriots!!
Writing
Rules
“We
all start somewhere,” says
All
of our 5-8th graders
have read her book, Rules—a 2006
Newbery Award honor book, and Schneider Family award winner—but they
hadn’t
read the first sentence of her first draft until she shared it last
Friday: “At
our house, we have a rule.” It didn’t survive as the first sentence of
the
published version, six years later. Evidently, getting it done can take
a while
and involve a lot of changes.
Lord
was exploring her writing
process last Friday with an audience of 5-8th graders from
Union 93
schools, the keynote address for Project Acceptance at
To end up
with a Newbery Award book, you have to endure a lot of editor comments,
proofreader marks and corrections, multiple galley versions, and lots
of
suggestions from other people about everything from the right title to
the
cover for your book! In the first letter from her editor, Lord was
greeted with
eight pages of things to work on. “Just get it done,” indeed.
Writing
is “a struggle” that seems
to have started in second grade when her teacher wrote on her report
card,
“Cynthia would rather stare out the window than get her work done.” But
she was getting her work done—she was
dreaming! “Our dreams,” says Lord, “show what’s important to write
about.”
The
story in Rules started taking shape when Lord’s
daughter asked, “How come I
never see families like mine in books or on TV?” What she meant was,
why
weren’t there books written from the perspective of a girl with a
younger
brother like hers.
Lord
sited the age-old writing
maxim: Write what you know. In her case, this meant autism,
“Find surprises,” she
advised our
writers, “because they become gold in description.” She learned that
sand,
awkwardly placed ramps, and people blocking the way could become
difficult
elements for Jason’s travel and access in the book. She also learned
that
sensory details aren’t always the obvious ones. The smell of fish at
the
adjacent park, for instance, dominated her first impressions more than
the
traditional harbor sights.
And
the publishing finish line can
also be deceptive. Just when you think you’re done, an editor asks for
two more
chapters…in the middle of the book. Catherine’s dad needed to be filled
out as
a character. So Lord had to go back and insert two scenes earlier in
the story.
This gave readers the tomato gardening and playing catch scenes.
When it came time for title and
cover art, Lord lucked out. Her own title stuck, eventually, and the
proposed
photo of the dollhouse family in a fish tank lost out to the simple
floating
rubber ducky being inspected from below by a goldfish.
Our kids had
questions. Do you have a fish tank?
Where did you get the idea for the moving van? (“It’s something I saw
at age
ten.”) Is there a sequel in the works? Is Catherine based on you? What
is Jason’s
disability—it isn’t specified in the book? Where did you get the idea
for the
raft scene? How do disabled kids react to Rules?
Was Kristi intended to be a mean girl? How does it feel to be an
author—to
see your book on a shelf?
“Great!” says
Lord, though it still feels odd
for her to see her own books in Borders and not feel possessive.
“The best part of being an author,”
says Lord, “is seeing people read my book, and getting their mail and
cards.”
To meet her readers, she travels far and wide— from
—Todd
Boys:
Wednesday: Basketball
play home game at
If they win, they play Thursday (
Girls:
Play Tuesday at Brooksville (4:00). If they win,
they’ll play at
Rink Time: The ice is
fantastic!
While the weather holds, we’re skating during lunch recess—not before
school—on
our playground rink. There is no rink supervision after school, but
families
are welcome to use it at their own risk…with adult supervision. Don’t forget to “Reverse Direction” every 2
minutes. Got any extra or outgrown skates? Send ‘em in!
Reader’s
Theater:
Next week, Readers Theater will perform their Chinese New Year
Extravaganza
(complete with dragon) at
Parent-Teacher conferences are on Friday, February 15th. Call for an
appointment,
326-8608.
Phone traffic at school:
A little advanced preparation and planning would help ease the daily
phone
traffic in the school office. Plans change; calls are unavoidable on
many
occasions. But notes to teachers and advance planning would ease things
for
Mrs. Thomas.
Yearbook Ads… How
about a “well-wisher” ad for a graduate or athlete or friend? Deadline
for ads:
2/29. Same price as last year: $25.00 per quarter page. Help keep the
yearbook
free of charge for students, and high quality printing and binding.
Save the Dates…for French Trip Dinners! February 12 (Winter Stew!), March 13 (French
menu prepared
by Tom Gutow…Trinitarian church, RSVP. Entertainment by Ellacapella).
Monday – Cheesy Chicken Pasta
Bake, Italian Bread, Carrots, Mandarin Oranges, Milk
Tuesday – Pancakes, Bacon, Yogurt,
Juice Milk
Weds. – Chicken Nuggets, Mashed
Potato, Yeast Roll, Corn, Pineapple Upside-down Cake, Milk
Thursday – Pizza, Salad, Goldfish,
Apple Crisp, Milk
Friday – Grilled Ham & Cheese
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February
12 French
Trip fund raising dinner: Winter
Stews! Emerson Hall,
15 Teacher
inservice: P-T Conferences (call for
an appointment, 326-8608)
18-24 Winter
Vacation
26
29 All-state
Jazz Competition at MDI....7-8th graders go for middle school comp.
March
13 French
Trip fund raising dinner: Special
menu by Tom Gutow.
14 Second
Trimester Ends/ Smorg Day II
28