Young George Moses loved how words danced. When Bible verses were read, he listened. When children read books aloud, he listened. When songs were being sung beneath the hot sun, he listened. But George wanted to do more than listen to the music that words made when spoken. He wanted to read those words, too. 
So George, by listening, learned the alphabet. Will he be able to read now? His mother gave him a book of hymns, but he couldn't read it. Not yet. 
George found an old spelling book--tattered and torn--and night after night, despite being tired after working all day on his master's farm, George studied the letters. He sounded out the words. He worked until he had taught himself how to read those words. And soon words became sentences, sentences became paragraphs, paragraphs became stories. George was reading! And how he loved being able to read!
George read books. George read the Bible. George read poems. George read hymns. George read newspapers. George read anything he could get his hands on. 
With all those words dancing inside George's head, a wondrous thing happened. Those words began to line up together into their very own song, a song of George's making, a song that needed to be heard aloud. George had become a poet, and not just any poet, but a poet of the finest kind. Now it was his own words that were dancing above the tilled fields like a musical breeze.  

POET: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton, written and illustrated by the talented Don Tate, is a picture-book biography that every classroom should have. Students will see that even during the dark days of United States history African-Americans could read and write. It was slavery's chains and oppressive laws, especially after Nat Turner's rebellion in 1831, that stole their opportunity to do so. But they certainly had the ability. Language is a gift all humans normally possess, even the oppressed. And I am sure that any child today who struggles to read and write, no matter their ethnicity, will find George's determination to learn to be absolutely inspiring.
There is so much to love about this book. The color tones that Tate used mirror the brightness and joy that words infused into George's life. I love the illustrations where George stands tall while he is reciting his poems for college students. I love seeing George dressed in his finest as he wrote out his poems for the wife a professor, the one who helped him become published. And I absolutely love how the book's designer at Peachtree Publishers took George's poems and placed them about the page like they are dancing on the air.  

    Ben had imagination.  He imagined that if he could create some fish fins to fit his eleven-year old body, he'd be able to swim just like his aquatic friends. So he sketched. He sawed. He sanded, until his wooden fins fit his hands, then his feet. He strapped on his invention and jumped in the river for a swim! Did it work? I hope you'll read this delightful picture-book biography to find out.
As a writer, I truly enjoyed seeing how the book's author, Barb Rosenstock, located such a kid-friendly fact within the volumes contained in the life of this famous man of Colonial-American history. And I loved how, in turn, she spun that event into a lively story that kids can relate to--wishing to swim like a fish. Rosenstock's clever use of alliteration throughout the entire book is a bonus that makes for an enjoyable read-aloud. 
The illustrator, S.D. Schindler, does a fabulous job weaving historical facts into the book. (Love those shoes and clothes!) And the color palette gives the book a historical feel. My favorite illustration? Seeing Ben, submerged up to his nose, with his swim-fins on and three fish fleeing from him with bug-eyed wonder!
The book's layout, wonderfully designed (and published) by Calkin's Creek, is gorgeous! The text often gives a sense of water moving. And I think it's quite clever how the big, blue font hints of Ben's later-learned skill of printing.
BEN FRANKLIN'S BIG SPLASH; THE MOSTLY TRUE STORY OF HIS FIRST INVENTION is one picture-book biography that I'm sure kids in every elementary classroom will enjoy.
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I just knew I was ready for behind-the-wheel. After all, I had read and studied each chapter in the driver's ed. book, paid rapt attention in class, and had passed every test with flying colors. But when it was my turn to put the car into gear, it was another story.

"Haven't you been watching other people drive?" my driver's ed. teacher asked when I inquired which pedal was the brake and which one was the gas. "No," I had to confess. "Was I supposed to?" Before I could barely get down the road, my exasperated teacher told me to get out of the driver's seat. Now! He wasn't ready to die!

My problem was that I didn't know how to put the advice I'd learned in the book into practice. Of course, if I had been watching how good drivers do it, I would have had a clue. Why hadn't I thought of that before I got into the car to drive? 

It's not so different with writing. We can read advice all day, but if we don't observe that advice in "drive", flowing through a real-live book, it will be difficult for us to apply that advice in our own writing. No wonder we are told to read, read, read.

So--not wanting to crash my manuscripts--when a book resonates with me, inspires me, works for me, I analyze why the book "drives" so well. This helps me see how to put advice into practice when I take my stories out for a spin.

Take the book Jumpy Jack and Googily, for instance--written by Meg Rosoff, illustrated by Sophie Blackall, and published in 2008 by Henry and Holt. This picture book makes for a wonderful ride. The story's engine purrs. Here's what advice I see in action when I drive with Jumpy Jack and Googily.

ADVICE: Begin with a Problem.

Twenty-one words into the story and the problem is laid out like the plaid on Googily's pants. Jumpy Jack, Googily's friend and roommate, is sporting not only a brown-striped shell, but a crooked frown as well. "I'm nervous," Jumpy Jack confesses to his dear friend. "There could be a monster nearby and I'm scared of monsters."

With this, Meg Rosoff shows us how to begin a story in media res (Latin for "in the midst of things"). No set up. No expository blah-blah-blah. None of that pillow fluff stuff. Jumpy Jack and Googily's first few sentences simply present the reader with the character's problem. That makes the reader want to turn the page to find out how it'll all work out.

ADVICE: "Page" Your Story 

Jumpy Jack and Googily slosh and plod toward home on a hilly terrain, encountering little obstacles along the way. Is there a monster behind the tree? Ready to pop out of the paddling pool? Staring through a letterbox? Poor Jumpy Jack. He's a bundle of nerves. But thanks to Googily, when you turn the page, each encounter finds our little slime-trail-leaving friend smiling again.

In this, Meg Rosoff shows us how to structure mini-scenes within a story. For Jumpy Jack and Googily each small episode begins on one page, has a middle on the second, then (turn the page) ends with the third and fourth. Having page turns at such strategic places within the plot builds suspense and keeps the story moving along.

ADVICE: Use Repetition Effectively 

Jumpy Jack asks his friend Googily for help over and over again. Each time he does so with the decorum of a finely clad English gentleman. He would be grateful. He would appreciate it. He would feel better. Every time Googily replies patiently, reassuring his friend. "No monsters here," he says. Jumpy Jack sighs a "Phew!" in relief every time.

In this, Meg Rosoff shows us that a thread of repetition woven throughout a story makes the storyline feel like home, the characters feel like family, the setting feel like a view of our own backyard.

ADVICE: Use Humor 
Jumpy Jack is afraid of monsters with dreadful smiles, horrible scary hair, and long tongues, right? Yet, our dear Jumpy Jack has no idea--n'er an inkling--that Googily is a monster that possesses these very attributes!

In this, Meg Rosoff shows us that the humor in our stories must be well thought out, fresh, clever.

ADVICE: Visualize the Text 

Jumpy Jack's eye-spots twist in every conceivable direction. From beneath his wiry smile on his slug-like body, two buck teeth protrude. Big, blobby, blue Googily is attired in a green bowler hat, a red wristwatch, plaid trousers, pink socks, and pointy shoes. One arm drags behind him while the other totes an umbrella. And those goofy facial expressions as the two friends experience their day together--all make for a visual delight.

In this, we writers are shown that we need to see the possibilities within our text for an illustrator to work his or her magic. This we should do as we are outlining, planning, and writing our story, whether we are an illustrator or not.

ADVICE: End with a Twist 

Little do we expect for Googily to be scared of anything. But surprise! As the two friends come to the close of their day, it is our brave Googily that sports a nervous frown. It's Googily that asks Jumpy Jack for help. It's Googily that declares, "I am frightened of socks." As the two of them peer under the bed to see if the frightful apparel is present, another twist is spun! The sock says, "Boo!"

In this, Meg Rosoff demonstrates that a simple, yet clever twist at the end of a story is like an elegant evening of dining ending with a delightful burp!