The Good News: I’m posting at my regular Wednesday time!
The Bad News: I skipped the last two weeks, even though Passover was over.
The Good News: Glixman in a Fix is officially for sale! Continue reading
teens
Signs you might want to buy one of my new books
BOTH MY NEW BOOKS ARE UP AND RUNNING ON AMAZON! WAHOO!
(Do I sound excited?)
Mazal’s Luck Runs Out is for ages 8-11.
My life is being taken over by marketing (What? Did you say there’s a Jewish holiday coming? More than one? You mean I have to cook, too? ARGH!). Also, I’m working on no budget here, but at least people can actually buy both Mazal’s Luck Runs Out and Sliding Doors and other stories online now.
With no further ado… Continue reading
You’ve got to be a reader to raise a reader: My take on recent research on teens and reading
Common Sense Media recently issued a report about kids and teens and their reading habits. The four principal findings (I’m going to quote CSN directly) were these:
- Reading rates have dropped precipitously among adolescents.
- Reading achievement among older teens has stagnated.
- There’s a persistent gap in reading scores between white, black, and Latino kids.
- There’s also a gender gap in reading across ages.
The NY Times and NPR are both aghast at the findings, but their responses focused more on the problem — and how it has arisen — than on solutions. Common Sense Media itself has offered several strategies to increase reading, but I’m going to suggest my own. Continue reading
Writing for Children: not for those who want glory, fame, or big bucks
Last week’s Hamodia/Inyan Magazine had an article by one of my favorite columnists, Rabbi Fishel Schachter entitled “Guided by Tale Winds.” While today Rabbi Schachter is well-known in the Torah world for essays and presentations for adults about the weekly Torah portion, parenting, and other subjects, he first gained popularity as a rebbi and storyteller to students in Jewish day schools.
Rabbi Schachter explains in the article that one of the adults in his audience told him many years ago that he had to choose between teaching grown-ups or kids — and he indicated that the natural choice for a man of Rabbi Schachter’s talent and intelligence was to teach adults.
Turning to his own rebbi for guidance, Rabbi Schachter asked if teaching kids was really beneath him? Were all the silly voices and so on undermining his stature?
Passover looming ahead: Not quite panicking yet
Due to the onslaught of housework, etc., that Pesach entails, as well as some nifty work assignments, I’ll be posting less for the next month or so. However, I do want to share with my readers several bits of good news: Continue reading
Can teenagers really save the world? Musings on middle grade and YA lit
I’m completely behind both writing and housework this week due to a bout of strep throat (thankfully, on the mend now due to penicillin). This was the second time I’ve been laid up for several days since Sukkos, so it was pretty much a drag, and I really need to try to wrap up at least one story this week. However, I just feel the need to share this with my readers.
Can three teens really save their airship from pirates? Not sure I buy it.
While lying in bed trying very hard not to swallow (it just hurt too much), I read a slew of middle grade and YA novels. Now, I know that tween and teen novels tend to share certain characteristics, and that many of these meet the psychological needs of tweens and teens. But as a once-but-no-longer teen, a particular trait rubbed me the wrong way. Continue reading
Rebecca Klempner 