It is time for Teachers Write!

Three year participant here!  Yes, I've been lucky enough to be a part of this amazing online community since the very beginning. Every year I've been challenged to stretch and grow.  I've become brave about sharing my writing.  It is always a fantastic time with fantastic folks (speaking of which---this year's lineup of guest authors is AMAZING!) and I come away inspired and filled with writing excitement.

If you would like to participate and haven't already signed up--NEVER FEAR!  It isn't too late!
Sign up HERE! And you can find more info on Kate Messner's blog post HERE.

A HUGE thank you to Kate Messner, Gae Polisner, Jennifer Jones Vincent, and Jo Knowles for being our fearless leaders.  I am forever indebted to you all.

Teachers Write summer camp!

It's that time again---time for the oh-so-amazing Teachers Write summer writing camp put on by the oh-so-amazing Kate Messner, Gae Polisner, Jo Knowles and Jen Vincent.  I was lucky enough to hear about it in time to participate in their first ever camp last summer and so I know we are in for a real treat this year.

Teachers Write was a total game changer for me.  

Dare I say it with such boldness?  You bet I do!

Being part of such a wonderfully challenging, inspiring, collaborative and positive group last summer has really propelled me onward in my writing throughout the year. I'm proud to say I am now a founding member of a local writers group, I am actively writing every week (still working on figuring out how to make it happen daily with my 2 kiddos, but still...progress, not perfection, right?), and I was asked to read my own work aloud at a literary reading in town this spring---and I ACTUALLY DID IT!  Like, in front of other writers.  And professors of creative writing.  And some incredibly supportive friends.  :)

I didn't always get to be as active on the boards as I would have liked, and I didn't always do every prompt or submit my work for critique---but I wrote and I participated as I could.  And the benefits just keep coming in.

So I urge YOU, dear teacher and librarian friends to do the same.  If YOU are a writer at heart it will benefit you personally, and if you are terrified of writing but must teach it to your students it will empower and embolden you to write more with them next year.

I hope to see you there!

Follow the Teachers Write link above, and join in the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #teacherswrite and join the Facebook group!

...and OH MY GOSH look at the guest authors for this year--squeeeeeeeee!

Read on, gentle readers; Read on!
(and write, too!)
Mrs. S

The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z. by Kate Messner

Confession:
I heard of Teacher's Write! (the oh-so-fabulous summer writing camp I'm participating in) through an email on a librarian's listserve I belong to, so I went to author Kate Messner's site for more details.  I knew I had recently put her books in my library, but I hadn't actually read them yet. 

I know, I know...it's hard to believe, but there you have it.

I resolved that issue last night.  I made a late-evening trip to my library and picked up The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z.   It was a lovely short break from my all-day-at-home-with-both-kids-whining life yesterday---I was the only one in the school, the only one in my library=utter serenity!

So I brought this little jewel home and thought I'd just start it so I could count it in my #summerthrowdown #teamlibrarian reading (check out twitter for more info)---not really intending to finish it.  After all, it was rather late when I got started (about 9ish) and it had been a really long day.
But, my!  I really, really (can I add another really?-yep, I think I will) REALLY loved this book.

Gianna is a 7th grader--an awesome runner and an artist.  Gianna and her family (including her beloved Nonna, and her joke-loving little brother) live above the funeral home where her dad works.  Her best friend Zig has been around pretty much forever--he's a brainiac and an all-around good guy. 

Gianna has an assignment---to collect, identify, label, etc. 25 different types of leaves--for her science class.  She's procrastinated a bit (okay, maybe a lot) getting it down---but in all fairness, she's had a lot going on.  I mean, to stay ahead of that Bianca in track takes practice (not to mention she loves running), and an artist must create art, right?  Plus, she's beginning to worry about her Nonna.  She doesn't seem quite herself these days--forgetting and misplacing things.  Who could concentrate on a stupid leaf project with all that going on, I ask you? 

Time is running out, though, and she must finish this project or lose her spot at the upcoming meet (to that Bianca--ugh!) and that just CANNOT happen.  Zig--great friend that he is-- offers to help her finish the project. 

The utter realness of the characters is striking.  Messner really gets this right!  The newly developing bits of tension between Gianna and Zig--- that we're-friends,-we've-always-been-friends-but-hmmm...I'm-starting-to-see-you-in-a-whole-new-light-and-I-don't-quite-know-what-to-do-with-these-feelings deal is greatness.  Sweet, not saccharine.   And I so feel the pain in the family over Nonna's failing health. 

With all that being said, my favorite part is the ending which, if you've ever read one of my book reviews you know I'll never give that spoiler!  But I really, really love that Gianna is true to herself. 

I highly recommend this read!  It was comforting and lovely and brilliant and real. Just like Gianna herself.

Read on, Gentle Readers; Read on!

Mrs. S