Lauri Meyers .

Thank you to all the participants in the Mentor Text Challenge. Remember mentor texts are an excellent defense against writer's block, lack of inspiration, and all sorts of writer's ailments. We have a challenge winner (selected by Random.org): Marcie! She has won a 2013 PiBoIdMo Journal and the warm touchy feeling that comes with knowing $3 goes to support Reading is Fundamental !  Marcie grabbed the book A Storm Called Katrina  and selected its first person narration style to apply to a WIP.  (Marcie - If I can't find you, email me at laurimeyers (at) gmail.com!) If you've been following along on the Mentor Text Posts, you deserve a prize for your commitment to studying craft. So just for you...  Excellent Resources for KidLit Nerds RenLearn  Type in the title of a book and get its book level, word count, AR points, etc. Scholastic  Type in the title of a book and get its grade interest level, grade reading level, and theme/su...

I was moving and grooving, learning about the craft of writing picture books.   I faced obstacles, but I continued to grow just like a character in my stories.   Then my growth kind of stalled and puttered and twittered and finally stopped.  What happened?  Had I reached my peak and discovered I was hopelessly average?  Why wasn't I getting better? And then it hit me:  I wasn't reading a writing book.  I had Summer Break Brain Drain.   It was time to get back to school, so I picked up Writing Picture Book s by Ann Whitford Paul.    If your brain is on summer drugs too, here are favorite insights from other writing books: You Can Write Children's Books by  Tracey E. Dils On reviewing your dummy book: "Is there enough action to illustrate on the spread you've chosen?   Is there too much action to illustrate? Is there a variety of scenes or a variety of different actions of interest throughout the...