GOLDEN NUGGETS FROM THE SCBWI LA 2011 CONFERENCE

Here is some treasure I’m carrying in my pocket from this year’s SCBWI LA Conference.

Don’t throw anything away. You never know what might be “mineable” material. BRUCE COVILLE, Author

A big mistake is submitting your manuscript too early. TRACEY ADAMS, Agent from Adams Literary

Readers are not trends. They want a story full of heart and soul. LIBBA BRAY, Author of BEAUTY QUEENS (You have to listen to the audiobook. I’m still laughing.)

Know what came before you – classics and current works. STEVEN MALK, Agent Writer’s House & JON SCIESZKA, Author of STINKY CHEESE MAN (And a stack of other books I share with the kids in my class every year)

COWBOY AND OCTOPUS by JON SCIESZKA (I dare you not to giggle for days.)

Start a book on the day something different happens. JUDY BLUME, Author of countless amazing books

Help kids know there is more than one way to look at things. NORTON JUSTER, Author of THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH

Be the kid you were when “it” happened. ALAN SILBERBERG, Author of MILO, STICKY NOTES AND BRAIN FREEZE (I dare you not to feel your heart fill with laughter and your eyes with tears when you read MILO.)

History repeats in every human heart. RICHARD PECK, Author of A YEAR DOWN YONDER

The seed of my art was spinning in my soul. LAURIE HALSE ANDERSON, Author of SPEAK

I'm still floating on a cloud of inspiration. Sell the cat if you have to in order to go to SCBWI LA 2012. You'll never regret it.

Dragon Love from Bruce Coville

I’ve always had a soft spot for dragons. I wanted one as a pet for years. Not a cranky dragon like Smaug in THE HOBBIT, but one I could ride around the world while roasting marshmallows on its fire breath. Couple dragon love with my goal to read a novel by each faculty member of the SCBWI Summer Conference and you have my discovery of JEREMY THATCHER, DRAGON HATCHER by Bruce Coville.

My search for a zinger read aloud to open the 2011-2012 school year in my fifth grade class might just be over.

The first paragraph in “A Note from the Author” at the end of this wonderful story says it all.

“I desired dragons,” J.R.R. Tolkien once wrote, and it seems he was not the only one. There is some powerful pull about these great creatures, something that sings to the imagination. – Bruce Coville

JEREMY THATCHER, DRAGON HATCHER has all the relatable ingredients to be a hit in my middle grade classroom:

Magic

Humor

Peer problems

Fantastical situations that you believe could really be true

Compassion

School issues

Devotion to a pet

Missteps

Resistance to romance

Increased responsibility

Getting around parental scrutiny

Personal growth and maturity

Heart, heart, and more heart

Best of all JEREMY THATCHER, DRAGON HATCHER is part of Bruce Coville’s MAGIC SHOP book series where kids grow through magical experiences emanating from Mr. Elives magic shop.

I know my new class will be enchanted with Jeremy and his dragon, Tiamat. I forsee a rush from my students to gobble up more stories in this series.

Thank you, Bruce Coville, for bringing your dragon magic into my life.

Do you “desire dragons?”