Author: Loree Burns

This morning’s post reminded me of John Steinbeck’s JOURNAL OF A NOVEL, The East of Eden Letters (Penguin, 1969). Here’s an explanation of the book excerpted from the Publisher’s Note:

“John Steinbeck, in writing East of Eden, unblocked himself for the daily stint ahead by writing a “letter” to his close friend and editor, Pascal Covici. It was written on the blue-ruled pages of a large notebook, size 103/4” x 14”, which Covici had supplied. After the two opening letters, which filled the first few pages continuously, the letters appeared only on the left-hand pages; on the right, when Steinbeck felt ready, he proceeded to the text of the novel. He usually filled two pages of the text a day with a total of about fifteen hundred words. Both the letter and the text were written in black pencil in Steinbeck’s minute but clear longhand. The writing covered the period from January 29 through November 1, 1951. There was a letter for every working day until the first draft of the novel was finished.”

The letters were published as JOURNAL OF A NOVEL the year after Steinbeck’s death. They make for fascinating reading. I can’t help but wonder what Steinbeck would think of them having been published. Do you suppose he would have published them himself on his blog, if there had been such a forum back then? Or would he, too, have been shy of sharing the warty bits of his writing process?

 

I’ve been thinking a lot about this blog and about my writing process and about how the two are sort of mutually exclusive for me. Being a Blog Hound myself, I know that it can be useful to read about how other writer’s work. And I love to be useful. But here’s the thing …

I don’t want to write about how I work while I am working.

I mean, it is all well and good to tell you that there were some rough moments during the writing of TRACKING TRASH in the same post that I tell you how that stuckedness resolved itself. But to tell you I am well and truly stuck on a Work In Progress and then just leave that negativity hanging out there for all the world to read is just too darn hard for me.

You may be saying. “But Loree, how many people actually read your blog? How many people would actually realize you were stuck?” And the answer is: not many. But among the few are some pretty important folks … like my editor. And my agent. And my writing partners. Do I want them reading all the gory details?

No, I do not.

I want them imagining me writing away in the wee hours, creating pages and pages of perfect prose that will be on their desks soon. I want them imagining me transferring passion to the page with ease and confidence. I want them imagining perfection. Because if I know these people—each of whom I adore—are imagining perfection, are EXPECTING perfection, then I will drag myself through the rough days working, working, working to get my pieces to a place that is good enough to share with them. I will do everything in my power to give them perfection.

All of this to say that I am drafting my new book. And that I cannot blog about it yet!

 

Here are still more pigeons from the Book Bunchers. Their work was inspired by Mo Willems, of course, and his latest Top-Secret pigeon book. Read more at Mo’s pigeon website and at Mo’s blog.

Thank you for your patience, Blogreaders!

Thank you for your creativity and passion, Book Bunchers!

And thank you Mo Willems for creating books and characters that we adore!

The Pigeon Wants a Pedicure
Illustration by Margot, Grade 1

The Pigeon Wants a
Illustration by Kara, Presschooler

The Pigeon Wants a Cracker
Illustration by Mary, Preschooler

The Pigeon Wants a Hamburger,
Illustration by Justin, Grade 2

The Pigeon Wants a Knuffle Bunny
Illustration by Sam, Grade 3

The Pigeon Wants a Skirt
Illustration by Victoria, Grade 1

 

Here are some more pigeons from the Book Bunchers. Their work was inspired by Mo Willems, of course, and his latest Top-Secret pigeon book. Read more at Mo’s pigeon website and at Mo’s blog.

The Pigeon Wants a Taco Sandwich
Illustration by Catherine, Kindergarten

The Pigeon Wants a Pony
Illustration by Julia, Grade 2

The Pigeon Wants a Friend
Illustration by Hannah, Grade 1

The Pigeon Wants a Harley Davidson
Illustration by Andrew, Grade 1

The Pigeon Wants a Rib
Illustration by David, Grade 1

 

On Tuesday I ran my third Book Bunch class at the local elementary school. My first- through-third graders are very good at recognizing my themes, so I had to be extra sneaky this week. Here are the picture books we read in the order that we read them; can you guess our theme?

LEONARDO THE TERRIBLE MONSTER

EDWINA, THE DINOSAUR WHO DIDN’T KNOW SHE WAS EXTINCT

KNUFFLE BUNNY

At this point themes were being shouted wildly. Monsters? Crying? Tuna salad? Happy endings? All very good guesses, but none of them were our theme. And then one smart little cookie raised her hand and said, “I saw a pigeon in that book. And that is weird, because the pigeon is from another book I know.”

Aha! The perfect clue. And the perfect segue to our next book …

DON’T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS.

The kids went crazy, some with joy at seeing a pigeon book, the rest with excitement at having figured out that our theme was …

MO WILLEMS!

When order was restored, I mentioned that there was (Gasp!) a new Mo Willems pigeon book coming soon. And that the new book’s name was being kept very secret because Mr. Willem’s had been running a contest in which kids were encouraged to guess the last word in the new title. For the record, I also mentioned that the contest was over, that the winner was to be announced in mere weeks, and that Mr. Willem’s was surely inundated with entrants and would not under any circumstances accept their late entries and post them on his website. But the Book Bunchers were not to be denied.

And so we chose names and designed jackets for the new pigeon book. Since it is too late to send our ideas to Mr. Willems, I’ve promised to post the creations here. Bear with me, okay?

The Pigeon Wants a Harley
Illustration by Ben, Grade 3

 

The story I want to tell you is so odd that I was afraid you might not believe it. So I asked my son to tell you instead. He is nine, he was there, and he is very, very honest. This is our ABSOLUTELY TRUE STORY…

Hi. I’m Loree’s son and I am about to tell you about an amazing adventure!

On Tuesday, March 18 we went to the reservoir near our house and I came across some trees that were cut down. I called my mom, brother, and sister and said, “Did a beaver cut these down?” My mom said, “I think so.” That is how it all began.

Me and my brother went farther down the bank and I found …

… a rubber duck! It’s head was a little cracked, but who cares? When me and my brother got back to the chopped trees and showed it to Mom, she found a number on it. It is “577”.

We decided to go farther down the trail all together and we kept finding chopped trees. Finally we got to a little opening, so I went down into it. Behind some bushes was a big dome. I said, “Is that a beaver lodge?” Mom said, “I think so!” Then we looked around and we decided it was a beaver lodge. We didn’t find any beavers.

In my opinion, the beaver bit is only mildly interesting when compared to the fact that we found a plastic duck in our reservoir. What are the chances that we would be the ones to find this plastic duck? What is it with me and plastic ducks? The number printed on the duck suggests it was part of a rubber duck race somewhere on the river that feeds the reservoir. The kids and I plan to look into it and we’ll let you know what we find out. For now we’ve put 577 with the rest of the gang.

 

Photo by Gordon Peabody, passionate environmentalist.

Yesterday I spoke to students at Worcester Polytechnic Institute about TRACKING TRASH. It was an interesting coming-full-circle sort of a day.

You see, I graduated from WPI in 1991. It was there that I committed myself to a career in science and there, interestingly, that I completed work on an undergraduate thesis on ‘Realism in Contemporary Children’s Literature’. It is only in hindsight that I see how this place helped to shape me and my work and set me on the way to a career in writing about science and scientists for young people. It was fun to go back a couple years later (if you can call seventeen a couple!) and see clearly what was so muddy back then: I am drawn to stories of science and the people who practice it, telling these stories is what I am called to do.

I spoke to students in a chemical engineering course called ‘Transport & Transformations in the Environment’, and they were a great audience. TRACKING TRASH was required reading for this class (!), and these future engineers were genuinely interested in the issues it raises and how those issues relate to their curriculum and to their world.

After class, Professor Bob Thompson took me and several colleagues and friends (both old and new) to lunch at Higgins House. What animated conversations ensued! We talked about oceans, the environment, science education, horseshoe crabs, citizen science and so much more. It was a fabulous afternoon, and Professor Dan Gibson–the the man who taught me all I know about horseshoe crab physiology—thought to bring a camera. (Thanks, Dan!)

 

They have helped fund this important satellite imagery.

They are helping to protect monarch butterfly habitat in Mexico.

I’m pretty sure they are going to save the world.

© Loree Griffin Burns

 

The National Science Teachers Association announced its list of Outstanding Science Trade Books for 2008 this week. I was thrilled to see two of my favorites on the list, MARIE CURIE, by Kathleen Krull (here’s my post) and SNEEZE! by Alexandra Siy and Dennis Kunkel (here’s my post), as well as a slew of titles that I can’t wait to get my hands on.

Happy Reading!