Writing and Writers: It's all about books

Writer’s Block airs every Tuesday, at 9 a.m. MST on KFUN/KLVF, streaming live at www.kfunonline.com

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Great children's books and programs at a hometown bookstore

Children's section at Tome on the Range, Las Vegas, NM

My interview with Suzanne Cole, former landscape designer and now children’s book specialist at Tome on the Range, was a joy. Her enthusiasm for her job, an inborn sense of fun and an apparent love of books made for a lively conversation and new insight into the bookstore’s commitment to providing an adventure in reading for all ages.

Suzanne said the “Where's Waldo” contest will continue through July. What is it? Look for Waldo at participating stores and collect four tickets to win a Waldo button. Eight tickets earns an entry in a drawing to win various prizes including art supplies from Art Essentials and Waldo books. Participating businesses are Unikat Jewelers, Tito's Gallery, Stuff, New Moon, Art Essentials, @ the Plaza, Threadbare, Pam's Flowers, Plaza Antiques, Wardancer Gallery, Semilla Natural Foods , Tome on the Range, and Gordon's Jewelers.

The much anticipated summer day camp, “Riding the Rails,” runs from July 30 to Aug. 3 from 12:30 to 5 p.m., for ages 8-12. The camp will take place on Monday and Thursday at the Las Vegas City and Rough Rider Memorial Museum. On Tuesday and Friday sessions will be at the parish hall on the Plaza. The highlight of the week will be a train ride to Lamy for a visit to the railway museum there. There are only eight openings left, so parents need to get to Tome soon to assure their child has a spot at this year’s camp. Fee for the camp is $50 per child.

Suzanne also brought several children’s books as examples of the variety available in the colorful and well-stocked children and youth section.

Picture books included Cowboy Ned and Andy, by Ezra Stein. What will Ned get Cowboy Bob for his birthday? The answer is found on the wonderfully illustrated pages of a book that teaches about what is important in life.

Wumbers by Amy Rosenthal is a fascinating approach to reading and thinking. Parts of the words are represented by a number, as in 4tune. Wumbers requires strict attention and is a great way for children to learn concentration and thinking on more than one level.

For intermediate readers Suzanne brought:

Bink And Gollie - Two For One, by Kate DiCamillo. Bink and Gollie, different in every way and fast friends, use teamwork and smarts while checking out the wonders at the state fair. It’s a funny and warmhearted story of friendship featuring the visual humor of illustrator Tony Fucile.  

Three Times Lucky, by Sheila Turnage is the hilarious tale of rising sixth grader Miss Moses LoBeau. (From Penguin.com “Miss LoBeau  lives in the small town of Tupelo Landing, NC, where everyone's business is fair game and no secret is sacred. She washed ashore in a hurricane eleven years ago, and she's been making waves ever since. Although Mo hopes someday to find her "upstream mother," she's found a home with the Colonel--a café owner with a forgotten past of his own--and Miss Lana, the fabulous café hostess. She will protect those she loves with every bit of her strong will and tough attitude. So when a lawman comes to town asking about a murder, Mo and her best friend, Dale Earnhardt Johnson III, set out to uncover the truth in hopes of saving the only family Mo has ever known.”

The Case of the Deadly Deserados, by Caroline Lawrence. (Kirkus Review: Twelve-year-old P.K. “Pinky” Pinkerton was born with a poker face—he can’t show or read emotion—but it’s not until he lands in Nevada Territory’s silver-mining country that he comes to terms with the hand he’s dealt. This fast-paced and deadpan-funny Wild West adventure is Pinky’s first-person account, scrawled out as “last words” on ledger sheets in a mine shaft while three desperados hunt him down. Read more…

I confess the young adult selections Suzanne brought were interesting enough that I might be adding them to my book list, which leads me to comment on the reading lists developed for summer reading for kids of all ages. Suzanne said everyone at Tome contributed to the development of the lists, which run the gamut from paranormal to sweet children’s book with simple messages. The following are suggested books that I found intriguing.

Name of the Star, by Maureen Johnson. (From Maureen Johnson’s website: The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it’s the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city, gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper events of more than a century ago. Read more…

Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices Series), by Cassandra Clare: (Goodreads review: When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London's Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos. Read more…

For more about about books in general and children's books in particular, stop by Tome on the Range and talk to Suzanne or any of the booksellers.They'll be happy to help you.

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Writing and Writers: Rosemary Zibert

 Writer’s Block airs every Tuesday, at 9 a.m. MST on KFUN/KLVF, streaming live at www.kfunonline.com

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Book Recounts the Transformation of a "Little Princess"

Rosemary Zibart is a journalist, playwright and children’s book writer. She is proud of her advocacy and many of her media articles tackled issues such as how art can transform the lives of at-risk teens, and the Heart Gallery, which promotes the adoption of children and teens. True Brit: Beatrice 1940 is a book for ages 8-12 that has been enjoyed by readers of all ages.

This is a charming story about a young girl forced into growing up quickly when she travels across the ocean in the unwelcome company of three small boys who don’t speak English and who, like Beatrice, are traveling without benefit of adult presence.

When Beatrice gets off the boat there is no family to meet her; she still has a ways to go aboard a train that will take her to a life more different than anything she can imagine. The countryside, the people, the home she will be living in, nothing is as she expected.

With the help of her father’s parting gift of a little red leather book to keep a record of her experiences, and taking her courage from Mary Kingsley, a valiant British explorer, she begins to make the most of a life unlike she has ever experienced.

Beatrice is one among thousands of European children who were sent to safety during World War II. Rosemary plans to write more about these children in the continuation of the series.

Interview Summary

WB: Tell the audience what prompted you to write this story.

RZ: On my birthday in 1990, I read in the "50 years ago today" column in the Santa Fe New Mexican, that four English girls had arrived in Santa Fe to escape war in England...that intrigued me!

WB: What research did you do to so clearly depict Santa Fe and northern New Mexico in the 1940s?

RZ: I read as much as I could plus I have a background as a journalist in this area for 20 years so I had written a number of articles about Bohemian artists, public health nurses, etc.

WB:  Beatrice is a world away from her home in more ways than distance. How were you able to capture a child-like view of rather frightening and life-altering circumstances?

RZ: Thanks for saying that I captured her voice. That's the key thing a writer tries to do. To find a character's voice and maintain it so you should always know who's speaking. I have always been fascinated by children facing ordeals so that's the subject of the entire book series "far and away," children who were displaced and relocated during 1939-1945.

WB: Is Beatrice a composite of children you know?

RZ: Not really. I did think of the character Mary in A Secret Garden. She (Beatrice) is not as nasty as Mary starts out but she's also spoiled and self-centered.

WB: She seems rather mature for her age. Is that a consequence of her circumstances or her station in society?

RZ: I was a precocious child myself.

WB: Beatrice evolves rather quickly in this story and I thought your use of Mary Kingsley as a role model was brilliant. Tell how you decided to use this adventurous woman in the story line.

RZ: That use of Mary Kingsley came late in the book's development. An editor told me Beatrice was whining too much, that she needed to be more adventurous so I added the reference to one of the most adventurous women I've ever heard of. Rudyard Kipling said of Kingsley, "She must have been afraid of something...but no one ever figured out what."

WB: This is part of a series. Tell us about that and have you begun writing the next one?

RZ: OMG. I've already written the next book called Forced Journey: Werner, 1939. It's a much rougher story, more complex and written in third rather than first person. I'm doing edits right now and hope to finish by August.

WB: How are you choosing the child protagonists?

RZ: From their stories. I'm seized by a story. I'm very plot-driven, but usually it's the inner story of growth and transformation that most appeals to me.

WB: In the course of writing Beatrice what did you learn about yourself that you didn’t know before?

RZ: Beatrice is about a poor little rich girl who is forced to roll up her sleeves and do things for others. Which is similar to me. I constantly have to be forced out of my little world in order to care for and do things for others. One of the projects I take time out for is Minds Interrupted: Stories of Lives Affected by Mental Illness. (WB NOTE: For more information about this program go to www.mindsinterrupted.com.)

WB: What other projects are you working on?

RZ: Another OMG! I'm a playwright and have a play being produced in Albuquerque this fall, plus I'm trying to get one produced in Santa Fe sometime later this year or early next year.

WB: Any last thoughts or comments.

RZ: Just that writing and reading is such a mind-expanding way to experience life I hope it's not replaced by games, which are clever, but don't stimulate compassion and understanding  about other human beings which to me is the purpose of life.

For more about Rosemary and her work, go to www.rosemaryzibart.com/.  

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