Host a Book Tasting This Holiday Season!

What English teacher doesn’t want to expand their students’ appetite with a Buffet of Books? Now you can sharpen their palates by hosting a Book Tasting! This activity has a great ROI with very little out of pocket expense. Your students will love sampling juicy reads in a short amount of time as the critique different authors, genres, and themes.

1) Create a Reading Restaurant: Your Reading Restaurant can be anything from a “red gravy joint” or five-star restaurant. The important thing is to set the stage and have a quiet place for students to taste (or read). Create a simple ambiance with tablecloths and place mats. Kick it up a notch with flower vases, battery-operated votives, a roaring fireplace video, finger snacks, and after-dinner mints. Feeling eccentric? Dress up in an apron and chef’s hat!

2) Pull books. Decide which books you want students to taste. It can be a totally random selection or you can organize by genre, author, theme, diverse characters, award-winners, etc. You’re the literature chef - so you decide the menu.

3) Establish Directions: Allow students about ten minutes to taste their book and take notes on their menu or note-catcher. Ring a bell or chime to let them know they are to rotate books, seats, or tables. Repeat the process as time allows.

4) At the end of the tasting, student rank their top three books, complete Book Tasting activity packet, share their best dish (or book), and check out their favorite, which you can pack up in a To-Go bag!

What a delectable literary feast!  Merry Reading!  

Click for more Book Tasting Ideas and Resources!  

Thank You, Cascade Middle School!

 Big thanks to Cascade Middle School for sponsoring a wonderful Author's Night!

For more author and school visit events, please visit my Website: 

Celebrate Spooky Season by Writing a Gothic Story

It's officially Spooky Season!  In teacher world that often means blowing the dust off Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" and hoping the candy bar sugar rush stays in check.  But why not leverage the thrills and chills of October into a mini-gory goth unit and spine-tingling writing assignment that kids will love?

All suspense stories should express an element of the gothic genre, such as the supernatural; an eerie, mysterious setting; emotion over passion; or distinctive characters who are lonely, isolated, and/or oppressed.  Throw in a tyrannical villain, a vendetta, or an illicit love affair — you’ve got Goth gold!  Why Gothicism?  It explores the tragic themes of life and the darker side of human nature.  What’s more, kids innately are attracted to it, so...score!  

Assign A Gothic Story Writing Activity that includes neat-o writing tools such as Freytag's Gothic Plot Pyramid, a Gothicism Word Bank for a brooding setting, weather, feelings, objects, and sounds; and a Gothicism Check-Off List and Scoring Guide that can also serve as a rubric.  Specifically, students will self score or peer edit their goth street cred with the following guidelines:

22-26 Attributes = Next-Level Gothicism beyond the laws of nature

17-21 Attributes = Solid Gothicism capable of shock and horror

12-16 Attributes = Mediocre Gothicism with layers of gloom and doom

7-11 Attributes = Low-key Gothicism with whispers of melancholy 6 or Fewer Attributes = Insufficient Gothicism; barely creepy!

Students need Spooky Story Starters?    Here are (32) Six-Word Scary Story Starters to keep the spooky in their writing.  

Six-Word Scary Story Starters

1) Three people enter cave.  Two leave.

2) Babysitter needs job.  Loves kids.  Kinda.

3) Looks in the mirror.  No mouth.

4) Beautiful house.  Backyard cemetery.  For sale. 

5) App downloads virus - in its users.

6) Mechanical pencil erases mistakes.  And memory.

7) Neighborhood has party.  Hosts are vampires.

8) Creepy basement.  Rickety staircase.  No escape.

9) Circus clowns revolt.  No one laughs. 

10) Wife wakes up.  Husband does not.

11) Adorable puppy turns into demonic dog.

12) Selfie pics sent by unknown user.

13) Found: Mason jar with unknown species

14) Girl keeps swinging.  She’s not alive. 

15) Grieving scientist clones deceased wife.  Oops.

16) They entered the elevator.  That’s all.

17) Purchased antique painting.  Haunted.  Buyer’s remorse.

18) Couple has nightmares.  They come true. 

19) Museum coffin won’t open.  Pounding inside.

20) Peaceful ocean swim.  Dorsal fin.  Ouch!

21) Clock runs backwards.  Time does too.

22) Tour guide loses group.  On purpose.

23) Locked doors and windows.  Forgot one.

24) Perfect suburban neighborhood.  Until freak accidents. 

25) Doorbell rings.  Gift.  Worst present ever!

26) New boyfriend.  Neither boy or friend. 

27) Office coffee maker brews deadly decaf.

28) Children’s voices fill park.  No kids.

29) Vacationers open their suitcase.  It bites.

30) Quiet road.  Abandoned car.  Open door.

31) Feeling the creepy crawlies.  Spiders everywhere! 

32) Voices heard upstairs.  Everyone is downstairs.

Stay spooky, y'all!  

Thrilled to be a PNWA Finalist!

The P.N.W.A. (Pacific Northwest Writers Association) is a vibrant writing community truly dedicated to the writer. I attended my first conference in 2011 in Seattle when I was a YA finalist and was not disappointed.  

This year, for reasons we all know, the conference was virtual.  I was thrilled to be a finalist in the Children's category and had a blast at the Zoom reception!  

2021 PNWA Contest Finalists 

Feeling Inspired at the Killer Nashville Writers' Conference

With a year in covid hiatus, Killer Nashville was back in full force this weekend!  I absolutely loved serving on panels, speaking about writing for the YA market, and of course seeing old writer friends and making new ones.  

The question of the weekend from a member of the audience was  - What is the difference between a Red Herring and a MacGuffin?  Excellent question if you are incorporating suspense, which of course all good writers do.

The answer...dun dun duuuun...I'm expanding time, holding you in suspense:

A Red Herring is a prominently placed but false clue that leads nowhere, used to throw off the reader leading to a false conclusion or falling for a “twist”

A MacGuffin, coined by Alfred Hitchcock who mastered the device, is integral to driving the plot, through character motivation, and yet its significance is never revealed to the reader/viewer, thereby serving no other purpose.  Think the statuette in The Maltese Falcon and the suitcase in Pulp Fiction.  

Checkov's Gun (which I'm adding just because) is a foreshadowing technique that follows what is known as the “Law of Conservation of Detail”. Basically, a gun (or any other object/detail) that is shown in the beginning of the narrative must have significance later on. 

Thank you, Killer Nashville, for reviving my #AmWriting drive and inspiring an amazing writing community!  Until next year...

Presentation at Killer Nashville - "Writing Nancy Drew for Today"

2021 YA Sizzling Summer Reading List

As we return to post pandemic normal, it's time to shuck the mask, hit the beach, and get your read on with these dramatic romances, chilling thrillers, and everything coming-of-age.  Here are my summer sizzling #TBR recommendations... 

Kimberly's 2021 YA Summer Reading List

1) The House on Mango Street ~ Sandra Cisneros 

2) Hot British Boyfriend ~ Kristy Boyce 

3) Milk and Honey ~ Rupi Kaur 

4) Lord of the Flies ~ William Golding 

5) Clean Getaway ~ Nic Stone 

6) Tokyo Ever After ~ Emiko Jean 

 

7) Kisses and Croissants ~ Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau 

8) Be Dazzled ~ Ryan La Sala 

9) The Best of Roald Dahl ~ Roald Dahl 

10) The Guilded One ~ Namina Forna 

11) You're So Dead ~ Ash Parsons 

 

12) The Catcher in the Rye ~ J.D. Salinger

Starting a Distance Learning YA Book Club?
Check out my Book Club Bundle for remote ideas and activities:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Book-Club-Bundle-3121010

It's National Poetry Month!

April is National Poetry Month, the largest literary celebration in the world.

Why should we devote an entire month to honor words written in verse?  Because poetry is the language of the soul.  When life drowns us with its dark moments, poetry throws us a raft – a verbal sanctuary of healing and beauty - especially during this unprecedented time of fear and uncertainty.

So I urge you to release your inner poet and succumb to the sensory language, rhythm, flavor, call and response of poetry.  Feel the human spirit and universality of life's shared stories in a stanza.  Read or write a poem this month.  Restore your spirit.  Restore your soul.

Ten Favorite Poems

1. “Sick” – Shel Silverstein
2. “Phenomenal Woman” – Maya Angelou
3. “Annabel Lee” – Edgar Allan Poe
4. “Oranges” – Gary Soto
5. “The Road Not Taken” – Robert Frost
6. Sonnet 130 – William Shakespeare
7. “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” – Robert Herrick
8. “The Kiss” – Sara Teasdale
9. “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” – Dylan Thomas 
10. Fragment 31 – Sappho

April Challenge:  Write a Cinquain

A cinquain is five line poem that follows this lyrical pattern:

1) a word for the title
2) two adjectives
3) three verbs
4) a phrase
5) the title again – or synonym

Example:

Chocolate

Dark or milk

Smooth, silky, sweet

Best thing ever

Yum! 

Eyes

Large, mysterious

Watching, rolling, blinking

Tell more than words

Soul-windows

Cinquain

Short, sweet

Five, simple steps

Maybe not so easy…

Voila!

Teaching poetry?
Kick start your poetry unit with my Poetry Jumbo Bundle for everything you need!

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Poetry-Jumbo-Bundle-3739719

Character Building at Barfield Elementary

I had an amazing Virtual Author Visit with Barfield Elementary School students this week! We spent the day reading Pretty Dolls and building characters. One first grader told me his character was a ping-pong ball with a penchant for ice cream. Love it!

Swoon-Worthy Literary Love Quotes

Need some passion inspo this Valentine's Day?  Whether you're feeling mushy, gushy, or crushy - look no further than a book for a swoon-worthy literary love quote.  

Here are some of my favorites:

"Do I love you? My god, if your love were a grain of sand, mine would be a universe of beaches." 

—William Goldman, The Princess Bride

"When he shall die,

Take him and cut him out in little stars,

And he will make the face of heaven so fine

That all the world will be in love with night

And pay no worship to the garish sun." 

—William Shakespeare, Romeo & Juliet

"You might not have been my first love, but you were the love that made all the other loves irrelevant”

—Rupi Kaur, milk and honey

“I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,

in secret, between the shadow and the soul.”

–Pablo Neruda, Sonnet XVII

“If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you.” —A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh

“Don't ever think I fell for you, or fell over you. I didn't fall in love, I rose in it.” 

― Toni Morrison, Jazz

"Love shook my heart

Like the wind on the mountain

rushing over the oak trees." 

— Sappho

"We loved with a love that was more than love." 

—Edgar Allan Poe, "Annabel Lee"

“You should be kissed and often, and by someone who knows how.”

—Margaret Mitchell, Gone With the Wind

"Who, being loved, is poor?" — Oscar Wilde, A Woman of No Importance

"I will not play at tug o' war.

I'd rather play at hug o' war,

Where everyone hugs

Instead of tugs,

Where everyone giggles

And rolls on the rug,

Where everyone kisses,

And everyone grins,

And everyone cuddles,

And everyone wins." 

— Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends

For more literary love inspiration and classroom activities, check out my Literary Love Quote Task Cards and Valentine's Day Literary Bundle

Love, read, and write with abandon...HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!! 

Janus Words for January

Words are power.  Words can bring us great joy or great pain, as proven with last week's unparalleled events.  Words can also determine our future.  When I wanted to raise my SAT score, my father gave me some sage advice - Learn more words!  He was right.    

From that moment, I’m been a hopeless word nerd.  I love them.  I keep files of cool words and will text myself ones I come across when reading for further reflection.  I’ve been known to look up words in the middle of the night, which means I must dream about them.  Yes – Word NERD!  I love anagrams, puns, and word etymology.  And French words and phrases...don’t get me started!  Nothing is more fun to drop in casual conversation.  Must be a je ne sais quoi thing. 

So for January, I thought it would be fun to write about Janus words.  A Janus word is a contronym or a word with two opposite meanings.  Appropriately named after the Roman god Janus, who is depicted with two opposite faces, Janus words are spelled the same but function as auto-antonyms.

Ten Examples of Janus Words:

• Bolt – to secure OR to run away
• Clip – to separate OR to join
• Fast – firmly fixed OR moving rapidly
• Left – to leave OR to remain
• Oversight – inadvertent mistake OR watchful care
• Rock – to be firm OR to sway or tilt
• Sanction – to allow OR to prohibit
• Screen – to display, such as a film OR to conceal
• Trip – To dance or skip OR to stumble 
• Weather – to endure OR to erode

So get two-faced and create some juicy sentences with Janus words.  Or add to the list.  In the interim, reflect on this sentence: “Because of the teacher’s oversight, the students’ behavior was sanctioned.”  This could be interpreted two different ways as a result of the Janus words oversight and sanctioned.  Either way someone ran a tight ship or got off scot-free.  How I loved that latter kind of teacher.     

Ahhh…word play!