Neil Gaiman Book Tour

Last night was an absolute treat! Neil Gaiman was in town for a reading and signing as he tours for his new book The Ocean at the End of the Lane. I've briefly blogged about my love for Mr. Gaiman in this post. This man is pretty amazing. I love that he write everything from books for adults, to young adults, to kids, and has written screenplays, graphic novels, and last night he mentioned he wants to write a musical! Not only does he write a variety of books he does all of it to perfection and he has the accolades to prove it.

He read from his new book (which is great - currently the #1 NY Times bestseller - go get a copy now!) and, even better, he read to us from his next children's book which comes out in September. He had the audience in stitches with it!

Witty, charming, gracious. If you haven't been introduced to Mr. Neil Gaiman yet just watch one of the many videos of him. May I suggest the following from a 2009 episode of The Colbert Report when he talks about his Newberry winner The Graveyard Book.




If you are a teacher and haven't read Neil Gaiman to your students you need to remedy this immediately. His picture books are especially wonderful for the upper grades.

 

                                 


Also check out this fun book - it's great for a read aloud!
  

If you're making mistakes...

I saw this great poster on Pinterest and it actually came from ModCloth. I just HAD to have it because not only is the quote perfect, but it is from Neil Gaiman who I adore (and we will be studying next month). ModCloth wasn't offering a print, so I made my own to hang up. I'd really love to buy a high quality print if they ever make it available.  

We only have 3 more days of school before we are on our two week fall break! Of course I'm excited, but mostly because I am in need of some good R&R. I'm also excited because that means November is right around the corner, and November means NaNoWriMo! Have you heard of NaNoWriMo? It's only the coolest thing going on in November. 

NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month and participants are challenged to write a 50,000 word novel in just 30 days. They also have a Young Writer's Program and two years ago my class and I embarked on this journey. I wrote a 50,000+ word novel and they wrote novels aiming for their own word-count goals. My class and I did it again last year. I can't imagine not doing NaNoWriMo in the classroom. It's full of amazing benefits for the kids. They become more confident and writers. They learn to make achievable goals and write steps to get there. They become more detailed writers. They learn to be persistent. They become more fluent writers. And I could go on and on! Interested? Head over to the Young Writer's Program site. You can order your free classroom kit now!

Before we start NaNoWriMo we spend two weeks preparing. I use the YWP workbooks which are amazing, and free, resources. And here is where the amazing Mr. Neil Gaiman comes in (sidenote: I adore his wife too, and had the pleasure of attending her concert last weekend). If you are unfamiliar with this fabulous writer I suggest you check him out. He writes for adults, young adults, and children. His most well-known books for the upper grades are Coraline (which was made into a movie) and The Graveyard Book which won the Newberry Medal in 2009. When we review plot I read Neil Gaiman's The Wolves in the Walls. It is a lovely, but slightly disturbing, picture book that is just right for the upper grades. It holds their attention and each element of plot is crafted perfectly. The day before we start NaNoWriMo I show the kids the episode of PBS's Arthur that features Neil (called "Falafelosophy") and it's all about becoming a writer. How fitting for the program! 

I'll start blogging more about NaNoWriMo in the coming weeks.  I'd love to hear from other teachers that use NaNoWriMo in their classrooms and from those that may be trying it out this year!