Bits and Pieces of Children's Writing

Bits and Pieces from the prompts in Children’s Writer’s Notebook

A.A. Milne

Inventing characters from your childhood and write a 300 word adventure

Brownie:  stuffed collie dog; Teddy: teddy bear; Oma: sock like toy; Mortimer:  Mickey Mouse toy; Lulu:  finger puppet

Location:  Reid Park, Tucson

It was a sunny day for an adventure at the park.  For three days it rained and the five friends were stuck inside the adobe house.  But the with sun reappearing, Mortimer woke and cried, “It’s play day.  Let’s go to the park!”

“Not before I brush my fur.”  Brownie stroke his golden ears with his paw.

“Let’s go somewhere to explore,” challenged Mortimer as he tightened his red vest and grabbed is black walking stick.

“Ohh.  Not some place too scary,” cooed Oma.  “And I need to eat my breakfast first.  I am a growing girl.”

“I say we make our breakfast a picnic in the park.”  Lulu hopped to the cupboard and began to pack up milk, apples and cheese.

“I’m with you, Lulu.  How can I help?”  Brownie pranced behind Lulu, wagging his tail that brushed against the door as Mortimer opened it. 

“I don’t need any help with the food, Brownie.  But you can grab a blanket for us.”  Mortimer was ahead of everyone, going out the door and into the sunshine.  

Brownie grabbed a blanket from his bed and carried it in his mouth.  He tried to bark but it came out with just as a puff of air, muffled by the blanket.  His brown eyes gleamed with excitement.  He trotted closely behind Mortimer.

Oma took her time, looking at the birds and carrying the basket of food in her arms.  When all of them arrived at the park, Brownie led the way to a shady spot under a mulberry tree and dropped the blanket on the grass.  Oma put the food in the center of the blanket and each of them ate their fill.

 As they wiped crumbs from their faces, Mortimer stood up and held his walking stick in front of him.  “Okay.  Now it’s time for us to explore the rocks by the waterfall.”

This was a challenge for Oma was did not like getting wet.  It took her a very long time to dry when she was washed. (337 words).

Roald Dahl

Naming Characters using an unusual first name with a surname that is a condiment or sauce

Gladys Worcestershire, Edith Pickle, Grover Dill, Archibald Gherkin

Pick one of the characters and compose a character sketch in a single paragraph

Gladys Worcestershire is a woman of her early 70s.  She dyes her hair jet black with a blue streak down the middle.  She wears her hair in a tight French twist.  She is bulky and short, shaped like the bulb of a turnip.  She works as a school crossing guard, wearing comfortable cargo paints in green with long sleeved yellow and white striped cotton t-shirts.  Her shoes are high top black converse sneakers with red ties.  She wears polka dot socks in red and white or blue and white.  She frowns at the traffic as she raises her stop sign for the kids who need to cross.  As they pass by, they “high five” her and smile.  While they are waiting at the curb before crossing, she spins off a tongue twister or knock knock joke.  She loves her day job.  

At home, she has two cats, Bogart and Bacall, who fight for their spots on the kitty condo or sleep under the bed while Gladys is gone.  In the evenings, they curl on her feet and she reads aloud to them from Robert Louis Stevenson stories and poems.

Social Capital is the Number One Factor in Economic Mobility

I just saw this segnment on CNN and feel it is so important to share asap:  http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2013/08/17/exp-gps-0818-take.cnn&iref=allsearch#/video/bestoftv/2013/08/17/exp-gps-0818-take.cnn

Based on a collaborative Harvard/Berkley study of the factors that affect economic mobility, and for the USA "The American Dream"--the element a community has or does not have that is #1 factor is Social Capital.  Considering the Arizona Daily Star's recent series, Losing Ground, which explored poverty in the Tucson region, I strongly encourage followers to spread the word that this study and its findings could be the basis of an indepth "Gaining Ground" response.  As a Reading Seed Volunteer for five years (and now a TUSD/classroom reading volunteer), I certainly support the Star and our mayor's call to increase the number of Reading Seed Tutors as one way to create a more positive potential outcome for our community's children.  But we need a deeper conversation about poverty in our midst and I believe the CNN story and research it cites is a good beginning.

Let me know if you are interested in moving forward with this approach by emailing me at acfonte@aol.com .

BrightSpot: Joel Valdez Library's Summer Reading Program

According to the staff in the Children's Library ("make sure you tell people we are really good with kids"), this Summer's Reading Program--which ended July 20--was 25% higher in registration compared with their similar program in 2011.  (In 2012, the format was considerably different so a comparison doesn't apply).  The librarians note that this year, as in 2011 and previous years, incentives were used and, particularly important, were the free pass incentives to Breakers WaterPark.  Another key to the higher registration was the emphasis on this year's program as a "family event".  For example, when a teen sibling brought in younger siblings, the librarians signed up the teen right on the spot for the teen reading program.

I cannot give a loud enough shout out to our public library (all branches) and the able staff.  I am a dedicated lover of books and reading but the knowledge each of the librarians I have worked with at the "downtown" (i.e. Joel Valdez Library) have more book titles in their brains than I could ever hope to download onto my computer!!  They are patient with all ages of children and willing to assist and encourage book reading from board books to tomes such as Harry Potter.  One librarian stressed to me that "we want kids to learn how to hold a book in their hands, turn the pages and take care of the book."  Another words (no pun intended), ebooks are fine but they do not replace the golden glow of a book.

So thank you Public Library for generating another summerful of new and continuing readers!

 (photo from flickr.com/commons)

AAA Tucson Baseball is a BrightSpot

I love baseball.  Love to watch it, used to love to play it (pitcher).  Growing up in suburban Chi-town, I was raised to be a White Sox fan, but I have become a Dbacks follower--although it's getting harder to know the players with the fast trades that go on in the sport these days. 

So, last night, it was with much happiness--tinged with an impending sense of loss when the Tucson Padres move to El Paso-that we introduced a six-year-old to Kino Sports Stadium and to baseball.  It was a perfect night to be on the lawn, watch the nightbirds (what are those yellow fly-bys), bats, other families, AAA-type between innings entertainments and, yes, even watch the game (Padres won:  3-2).  Here are two shots of two different kinds of "BrightSpots" in my life.

The field and sky for a perfect baseball night:

 

And a six-year-old getting "kitty hugs" between innings: