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If Wendell Had a Walrus
by Lori Mortensen (Author) and Matt Phelan (Illustrator)

Booktalk: A boy named Wendell dreams of getting a pet walrus. Together, they’d ride bikes, tell jokes, and have a grand time. If only he could find one!

But looking for a walrus turns out to be its own adventure . . .

Snippet:

Guest Post by Lori Mortensen

Lori Mortensen has been a high school dance teacher, sign language interpreter, and typed oodles of stuff for attorneys, engineers, and accountants. It wasn’t until she was a stay-at-home mom that she wondered what she could write. At last count she has written over 70 books and over 350 stories and articles! Lori lives in Northern California with her family and a mega-fluffy cat named Max.

Q. Describe your writing process.
A. My writing process starts with an idea. Ideas present themselves in different ways. For my rhyming picture book Cowpoke Clyde and Dirty Dawg, I was inspired by my neighbor’s dogs that regularly escaped from their backyard and raced down the street. Moments later, my neighbors chased after them, shouting for them to come back. As I watched the lively scene unfold, an idea came to mind. What if I wrote a story about a boy chasing a dog? Once my main character turned into good ol’ Cowpoke Clyde and Dirty Dawg, the story took off just like Dirty Dawg does in my story.

Another time, I was wandering through my local thrift store when I spotted a figurine of a spotted cow sitting on a crescent moon. I stopped and thought; Wouldn’t it be fun to write a story about how the cow got there? After buying the figurine, I went home and wrote the story in rhyme to accompany the original Hey, Diddle Diddle nursery rhyme. I was thrilled when HarperCollins published it.

Sometimes a title pops into my head, as it did with Chicken Lily and Mousequerade Ball.

Once I have a kernel of an idea, I find the voice to tell the story. It’s an exciting and challenging process. Fun to see the voice of a character emerge and see where the story will take me. Frustrating when I hit a snag, lose my way, or wonder if I’ll ever get through the first draft. However, as I begin to like what’s blossoming on the page, momentum builds until I cross the first-draft finish line. Maybe this story has potential after all, I think. After I’ve polished the story to the best of my ability, I share it with my trusted critique groups. I have two–one online and one that meets in person once a month. Their fresh insights are invaluable. They point out inconsistencies and raise questions that never occurred to me. Then, the revision process begins again. I may not agree with everything they suggest, but I’m forced to reevaluate my text and its purpose in the story. Revision is a writer’s best friend.

Each story is a new adventure, a new story to tell.

Q: Tell us about your latest book.
A. The idea for If Wendell Had a Walrus began while I was reading a lot of quiet books such as And Then It’s Spring, by Julie Fogliano, and The Quiet Book by Deborah Underwood. As I read these and others, and let the thoughtful voices settle in my mind, I imagined a character looking up at the clouds. Once I added “if” to the mix, an image of a walrus popped into my head and I knew it was a fun storyline I wanted to explore. Line by line, the voice of the eager boy who wanted a walrus emerged and it was exciting to figure how he would do it.

One of my favorite parts of reading or writing a book is that unexpected twist at the end. Should Cowpoke Clyde finally catch his ol’ Dirty Dawg for a bath? Should Cindy Moo jump over the moon? Should a boy who dreams of having a walrus get one? That’s the trick of course. The end needs to be surprising, yet satisfying. I knew I’d hit a home run when I came up with the unexpected, yet satisfying ending for this story. Does Wendell get a walrus? Read the book and find out!

Thanks for sharing your new book, Lori!

Did You Hear What I Heard? Poems about School
by Kay Winters (Author) and Patrice Barton (Illustrator)

Booktalk: This poetry collection covers an astonishing range of activities from the anticipated–dashing to the bus and science class discoveries–to the completely unexpected–losing a permission slip and seeing a teacher outside the classroom.

Snippet:

Guest Post by Kay Winters

As an only child and then as a teacher, Kay Winters loved school! She worked in schools for twenty nine years, in various capacities: a teacher, a reading specialist, a college instructor, and a language arts consultant for the American International Schools. But she always dreamed of writing children’s books. When her district offered early retirement, her resignation was on the Superintendent’s desk at 7am the next morning. And she started all over again. She took a class at the New School in New York on writing children’s books, and began writing and submitting. She joined SCBWI and went to writer’s conferences. Her first book was Did You See What I Saw? Poems about School, published by Viking in 1996.

Most of her 24 books are written in poetic prose, Did You See What I Saw? and the new one Did You Hear What I Heard? are the two poetry titles. And they are both about school!

Q. Describe your writing process.
A. I was a teacher for 29 years. But that was not yesterday. So, when my editor called and suggested I write a second school poetry book, (The first, Did You See What I Saw? Poems about School was published in 1996) I needed to go back to school. I do school visits on a regular basis. I talk about my books and offer activities which get students excited about reading and writing. However, when I am in a school, I am giving a presentation, in the auditorium or the gym. Before writing the book, I wanted to spend time in schools listening and looking. I went in classrooms, to the library, the gym, the playground, the teachers room, and the cafeteria. I talked to teachers, nurses, students, aides, secretaries, custodians, principals.

Some situations seemed to be timeless. Sadness about losing a best friend, excitement over the possibility of a snow day, learning opposites, coping with lice, working with clay, anxiety about being the new kid . . .

But some situations have changed. In some schools there is less recess. The playground no longer has see saws. The amount of tests has tripled. I saw students as young as pre-school and kindergarten filling in worksheets, learning to match the bubble with the “right answer.” Today, youngsters are more comfortable with technology, than paper and pencil, and both teachers and children depend on a screen for daily work.

Most students don’t walk to school. The school bus plays a major role, or delivery by parents. The teacher is still all important. And for many, story time is still the highlight of the school day.

Q: Tell us about your latest book.
A. In Did You Hear what I Heard? Poems about School there are 35 poems for students in K-3. The verses run the gamut from catching the bus, having a fire drill, feelings about math, learning to measure, delight in deleting, recess, science discoveries, hating to take tests, loving to read, the principal kissing a pig, getting the flu, and seeing the teacher at the grocery store.

The illustrator, Patrice Barton, sets the scene of each early school experience with her upbeat sketches of students from various ethnic backgrounds. Did You Hear What I Heard? Poems about School, depicts some of the daily ins and outs, the ups and downs, but most of all it is a celebration of the early school experience.

Thanks for sharing your new book, Kay!