Book Announcement

 

 

I wrote something! Each time I finish a project, I am grateful that I continue to try.

New Experience

I was allowed to give my opinion about the new cover of Young Adult Literaturen (Bucher & Hinton).

Young Thurgood

Recently, I was given the opportunity to write a review of Young Thurgood by

Larry S. Gibson.

The book stands out because it takes readers into Thurgood Marshall’s world before he turned thirty.

 
Did you know ...

• Marshall got into some trouble related to fraternity pranks during college?
• Marshall worked after school delivering goods for a clothing store?
• Both Marshall’s maternal and paternal grandparents owned a grocery store in Baltimore?

Learn more about Marshall when you read my review at ForeWord.  

Writing a review of Racing to Justice

I wrote a little last week. The experience was odd to me. I’ve been writing book reviews since 2004, but every time I write one it is as if I’m writing for the first time. Most people think writing book reviews is easy. I know I thought that when I first started reviewing for ForeWord Magazine.
Man, did the editor teach me how to write each time she sent a review back for revisions.  Looking back, I’m thankful for those lessons. I also learned from picking apart the reviews in ForeWord Magazine. I mean I dissected several reviews before attempting my own.

I was reminded of all of this when I reviewed Racing to Justice by *john a. powell. powell, who was recently selected to lead the University of California at Berkeley’s Haas Diversity Research Center, has written a heavy book about race, whiteness, justice, inequity and tons of other stuff.

I think writing the review was hard for me because he talked about so many interesting things.  For example, I’ve been interested in whiteness studies since I was a student at Ohio State and wanted to steer the review more toward that and Peggy McIntosh’s“Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” but then powell’s ideas about how people are arguing about multiracial identity is equally intriguing, especially for someone like me who chuckled when powell says something like, aren’t we all multiracial.

The court cases he cites, though I admit I thought many of them were **dated, seemed like a good thing to talk about in the review. But after all, wasn’t a main point of the book about how all of this talk about a postracial society acts like a deterrent to dealing with racism?

Another hard part of writing the review was deciding the lead. In October, my ears perked up and burned a little when NPR ran several stories about cases the Supreme Court might hear this term, so that seemed like the best place to start in the end, especially since powell alluded to the upcoming affirmative action case.  

I enjoy writing book reviews because it stretches me in a way that writing an article doesn’t.

You can see my review of Racing to Justice and other books at ForeWord Magazine.

*Mr. powell does not capitalize his name, so I will not capitalize it either.

**I do realize older court cases are used to establish precedent.

Novice is Writing

Well, I am still learning to write—when I can.

And I have a great time when my fingers finally reach the keyboard.
This happened recently.

I had the pleasure of interviewing some wonderful writers, Jennifer Cervantes, Wendy Shang, Carole Boston Weatherford , and the piece was published in Library Media Connection. The writers were guest speakers at the 2012 LUCY conference at ODU.

 

One of my favorite quotes in the piece is from Carole Boston Weatherford:

"Stories can convey ...things mere facts can’t. And in  so doing, can put historical events in human context."

 

Another favorite quote was by Wendy Shang:

 

We should remind children that we all belong to different cultures – culture is not just about reading about people who live far away and look different.  When we think about how our own cultures inform what we think, what we want, or even what we eat! –whether it is culture derived from our schools and neighborhoods, places of worship, or the professions we undertake – I think we can begin to read about other people with a greater understanding of our differences and commonalities.

 

 

Do you want to support me by reading my piece? Here’s the bib. info.:

 

Hinton, K. (Nov./Dec. 2012). Connecting with Culture through Literature: Authors Speak. LibraryMedia Connection, 16-18.

 

Thanks for reading my blog!

Scraping or Writing More with Less

I'm a scraper.

I grew up that way.

I had grandparents who believed in the adage, “Waste not, want not.”
We made sure everything was put to use and reuse. Even the tiniest piece of store bought soap was
re-purposed. I can recall my grandmother standing over a large iron pot making soap, so store brought soap was a treat.

Of course I do not make soap or really live in want now, but I still value scraping.
My son will look at a used tube of toothpaste and say, “Mom, it's all gone.”

I'll pick up the flat tube and reply, “There is enough toothpaste in there to last three weeks.”

“No way, Mom!” he shoots back.


“Watch!” I say.

But wait! This post isn't about how thrifty I am with toiletries.

 It's about writing.

See, for the last few years, I have been learning how to scrape when writing.

Even today I'm thinking about it. Asking myself questions as I look at a piece my colleagues and I got a hit on a few weeks ago.
How can I use the unused remnants of the former piece to create a new one?
If only I could re-see this old piece from a different angle.
What if I used a different methodology?
A different theoretical framework?

Can I really re-purpose this soap, I mean, paper?

I've done it before.
I once used one rich interview with Allison Whittenberg to write two different pieces.
I went for a third, knew I was stretching too far with too little, but tried anyway and was rejected by an editor.

That's the best kind of rejection; the kind that comes after already hitting twice.

I can have a tube of toothpaste or a family size pack of soap in the linen closet, but that isn't the point.

The point is to maximize the minimum.
Use every bit of data of value that I have left, and try to hit again.

Jacqueline Woodson Piece in Library Media Connection

I was fortunate enough to interview Jacqueline Woodson recently. She talked about writing for today’s reader and some of her books that will be released soon, The Rope, illustrated by James Ransome, and Each Kindness, illustrated by E.B. Lewis.

My favorite line from Woodson during the interview goes like this:

“I know when I've written the last line that the book has done what it is here to do.  I just know that that line is the end, it finishes the story.”

She goes on to talk about writing Beneath a Meth Moon.

Source: Jacqueline Woodson: A Writer’s Journey. Library Media Connection, 30(5), March/April 2012, p. 20

Novice is Writing

I contributed to a piece back in December and now it's published on the Web. You might want to read the books mentioned.  It's in an ALAN  blog called Under the Radar.

Stay Close to Fiction

I understand my problem with this piece I’ve been working on: I spend too much time away from it.

I read an article in Poets and Writers recently, the one with Joan Didion on the cover. Ellen Sussman wrote about how hard it is for fiction writers to get back into a piece when they’ve walked away for too long.

Sharon M. Draper told me something similar once about her own process:

"A writing day does me no good at all because I have to immerse myself into what I’m doing. I can’t write on Monday, then go to DC on Tuesday, and come back and write on Wednesday. I have to be in that world; I have to live in that world. It’s almost like jumping in the deep water: I have to swim there."

I didn’t get it. I remember thinking why can’t you just reread what you wrote and jump back in.

That’s what I do when I write nonfiction. Now I see that with fiction it isn’t that easy to do.

What about you? How do you get in and out of fiction with ease? 

Sharon M. Draper qtd. in 

           

Oops! About Walter Dean Myers

Greenwood Encyclopedia

The other day I posted that I should write about Walter Dean Myers.  I forgot I did write about him.

I heard Angela Johnson say that sometimes she realizes she has forgotten about some of the things  she’s written. Now, of course I’m no Angela Johnson, but that does happen to me. 

Here are three things I’ve written about Myers or his work and completely forgot about them:

1. Hinton-Johnson, K. (2005). Walter Dean Myers. In Emmanuel S. Nelson, The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Multiethnic American Literature. Greenwood Press.

2. Hinton, KaaVonia. (July 2005). Review of Autobiography of My Dead Brother by Walter Dean Myers. Kliatt 39(4), 14.

  
3. Hinton-Johnson, K. & Dickinson, G. (2005). Guiding Young Readers to Multicultural Literature. Library Media Connection, 23(7), 42-45. Walter Dean Myers The Beast. Library Media Connection, 2005.

I also created blog posts about his work and reviewed What They Found: Love on 145th Street (I can’t remember which publication published the review, I think it was VOYA).

I have no idea why I didn’t remember that. 

Here’s the lesson from this: a writer needs to keep good records of the work she produces. 

I should be keeping the tearsheets (photocopies of the piece once it’s in print) and a dated list of every publication (think resume or vitae). 

I posted a picture of Myers and me on Facebook. Take a look, and don’t forget to like my page. The 100^th person to like my page will get an autographed copy of one of my books.

Do you want more about Walter?

Novice Is Publishing

A few months ago, I got an article in print:
"What’s New in Math Oriented Picture Books?" Library Media Connection, 29(5), 22-23.

The piece was inspired by my co-authored book pictured above.

I know you're getting clips, too. Care to share what you published?

Name names and give bib. info.
I want to read your work.
You're kind enough to read mine.