On Tuesday, October 18, I spent my second day teaching students at the Marblehead Community Charter Public School (MCCPS) as part of a five-day author residency. During each visit I spend 90 minutes with each of Mrs. Molly Dunne’s sixth grade Humanities classes, teaching the elements of fiction and how to craft a story. Mrs. Dunne’s students are reading The Grey Ghost in class, and I’m coaching them in teams to write a new scene to add to the story.

I’ve identified thee places in the book where a new scene might be added, each in a different setting with a different mix of characters and a unique narrative challenge (for instance, one scene is overheard by a pine marten hiding in a saddlebag, so we can only learn of things that the pine marten hears.)

During each day’s visit, I also spend time with one of the other grades (MCCPS is grades 4-8) so that through the course of the residency I’ll have worked with all of the school’s students. On the 18th I taught two seventh grade classes how to write a book review.

I’m enjoying my time with the MCCPS students and I’m looking forward to reading the sixth graders’ creative efforts! Many thanks to the Friends of Marblehead Public Schools for funding this residency and to the Rotary Club of Marblehead, which donated the classroom set of The Grey Ghost.

I’ve spent much of my day piping on this tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001. While we can all share our memories from that horrible day, I wanted to share an experience I had seven years ago in 2004. This is a re-post, so some may have heard this story. It touched me so deeply, however, I thought it worth retelling.

September 13, 2004
This last weekend I flew from Boston to Pittsburgh (via Washington D.C.) to compete in the bagpipe events at the Ligonier Highland Games. When I arrived in Pittsburgh, I learned that United had lost my garment bag—the one holding my carefully packed kilt. (At piping competitions, one must perform in Highland attire.) I was at the airport until well after midnight on Friday and then again early Saturday, on the promise that the bag would arrive first thing that morning (my first competition event was at 11 am Saturday.)

By the next morning, my bag hadn’t arrived. In fact, it was still in D.C. I drove the hour and a half to Ligonier spewing a stream of caustic invective, not knowing if I’d even be allowed to compete; I’d never tested the “Highland attire” rule before. The organizers and my judges were understanding and allowed me to play in my jeans. I was grateful for the chance to compete, but through all the stress I didn’t place very well.  

My bag made it to Pittsburgh in time to be checked in for my flight home to Boston (also routed through D.C.) It had been a long day and a frustrating trip—hardly worth the cost and effort.

The last leg, from Washington to Boston, was a late flight. The plane was half empty and the lights were down so people could sleep. At about 10:30 pm, the pilot came on and announced we were approaching Manhattan and that the World Trade Center ‘Tribute in Light’ was visible out our left window. I’d forgotten that it was September 11^th, and I recalled how the ‘Tribute in Light’ was now only lit on the night of the anniversary of 9/11.

I looked out at the pillars of light blazing up at us, where the towers had once stood, and I realized that this memorial was as much for those in the air as it was for those on the ground. Passengers on the left side of the plane got up so everyone had a chance to see it. While some had been sleeping or dozing before, now soft conversation filled the darkened cabin. Most reminisced about where they were three years ago when it happened. The flight attendants spoke quietly among themselves about friends and colleagues who’d been lost (this was a United flight).

 Here we were on 9/11, flying the reverse route of those ill-fated planes, over Manhatten gazing down on the beacons that cried out over such horrible loss. I rose and made an offer to my flight attendant, who replied with a determined nod. Retrieving them from the overhead compartment, I unpacked my pipes and (kneeling, because of the low ceiling) played a slow, deliberate Amazing Grace.

The pilots opened the locked cockpit door to listen. Moist-eyed flight attendants stood in a phalanx behind me. Afterward, there was no conversation—there was nothing left to say. A few whispered “thank you’s” slipped through the silence, but beyond that we rode the last miles home burrowed in our own thoughts.

I’m still filled with emotions I can’t begin to describe, nor will ever forget. My trip was well worth it.

The Lynx, a 78-foot replica schooner from the War of 1812, sailed into Marblehead harbor on May 18 for a four-day visit. She’s on an educational tour around the U.S. and Canada, and Marblehead will be her only port-of-call in New England. It was a soggy afternoon with fog and intermittent downpours, but the town turned out with rain ponchos, wellies, and umbrellas to welcome her arrival.

She fired her cannons in tribute as she approached the harbor and the Glover’s Regiment fired an answering hail from Fort Sewall. As she sailed down the harbor and dropped her sails, I had the privilege of piping her in to the dock. “Huzzah” to the Lynx!

Many of the school programs I’m presenting during the winter and spring of 2011 are funded through grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC). In a tough economic climate, when school enrichment budgets are shrinking to non-existence, it’s wonderful that the MCC provides schools across the state with the funding they need to offer educational and inspirational programs that complement and enrich classroom curriculum. Here are the programs I’ve presented this winter/spring funded in whole or part by the MCC:

• During January and February, I spent four days working with students in grades K-5 at Peirce Elementary in an author-in-residence writing workshop. K-3 worked on poetry, while grades 4 and 5 wrote an original scene to add to my book, The Grey Ghost, which the students had read. Student work was showcased in a Literacy Night held on March 4. This program was funded by the Arlington Cultural Council and the Peirce Elementary PTO.

• On March 4, I presented an author talk to the 7th grade at Veteran’s Middle School in Marblehead, tying the research behind my book, Through the Eyes of a Raptor, back to the elements of fiction, and explaining why research is so important for writing, even if a story is fiction. On March 16, I returned to Veteran’s and had an author lunch with fifteen students who’d received copies of my book and were reading it as a book club. This program was funded by the Marblehead Cultural Council and the Marblehead Public Schools’ Arts Council.

• I worked with the 4th grade classes of Swampscott’s Stanley School on March 21, showing students how to enliven their writing by incorporating storytelling elements in their long compositions (in preparation for the MCAS Long Composition Test.) I return to the school on April 15 to present a nature talk to grades 1 and 2, and an author talk to grades 3 and 4. These visits are funded by the Swampscott Cultural Council and the Stanley School PTA.

• On April 8, I presented my author program to the 5th grade of Athol/Royalston Middle School in Athol, MA. The school received a classroom set of 30 copies of The Grey Ghost last fall through a private donation, and the 5th grade students read the book in class. Following my grade-wide presentation, I visited each classroom where I held a book-club style discussion of the story with students. The books were provided through a private donation and the author visit was funded by the Athol Cultural Council.

• I’ll visit E. Brookfield Elementary in E. Brookfield, MA on April 13 where I’ll work with 4th grade classes. The school purchased a classroom set of The Grey Ghost, which 4th grade students have read in their library classes. I’ll present my author program to the entire grade, and then meet with each class and hold a discussion and author Q&A with students. The book purchase and author visit are funded through private donation and a grant from the E. Brookfield Cultural Council.

• On April 28 I’ll work with the creative writing students at Wareham High School and speak to the 8th grade at Wareham Middle School in Wareham, MA. Both schools will also receive library sets of The Grey Ghost. My visit and the sets of books are funded by the Wareham Cultural Council and by private donation.

• I’ll be working with 8th grade students at Triton Middle School during May in a five-day author-in-residence program teaching them the elements of fiction. This project is jointly funded by the Cultural Councils of Newbury, Rowley, and Salisbury, and by Triton Middle School.

Many thanks to the Mass Cultural Council, to each of these local cultural councils, to all the private donors, PTO/PTA’s, and schools for making these programs possible for so many students. Inspiring a love of reading, writing, and literacy is a magical gift to give a child!

This is a copy of the press release I announced last Friday, Feb 11!

Award-winning author Julie Hahnke (Marblehead, MA) has teamed with Atlanta’s teen rock sensation von Grey to launch a national literacy campaign entitled Read On! A recent study by the National Endowment for the Arts reported an alarming drop in reading for pleasure among teens. The Read On! campaign targets this downward trend and hopes to reverse it by encouraging youth to read more books for pleasure.

“You’d be surprised at the power a book holds,” claims Hahnke. “Whether novels, non-fiction, poetry, or even graphic novels, books expose us to new ideas and challenge us to consider fresh possibilities—they empower us.” That sentiment is the premise of von Grey’s latest hit single, Read On!, the lyrics of which were co-written by Hahnke. The song is an integral component of the Read On! literacy campaign.

“Kids are open to the message of reading,” Hahnke believes, “but the message has to be delivered in a way that will catch their attention and spark their interest.”

Band von Grey presented the perfect channel for reaching teens. The band is four sisters, with the von Grey surname (ages ten to sixteen), who blend classical, folk, and country influences into their rock music. When the group “followed” Hahnke on the social media platform Twitter last August, she was blown away by their sound. Having recently opened for a Sarah McLachlan concert in Atlanta, von Grey was clearly on the rise and Hahnke knew their appeal to other teens would be irresistible.

Supporting social causes is nothing new to the band, who have championed other charitable projects with their music, and they eagerly agreed to Hahnke’s suggestion that they collaborate on the lyrics to a song promoting reading and literacy. The song Read On! is the result of that collaboration.

Central to the Read On! Literacy Campaign is a school video challenge. Schools across the country are invited to create a music video that encourages kids to read using the song Read On! as the soundtrack. The video challenge was born from the viral success of Ocoee Middle School’s (Ocoee, FL) rewrite of the Black Eyed Peas’ I Gotta Feeling into a pro-reading song, You Gotta Keep Reading, in early 2010. The school’s flash mob video, based on the rewritten song, skyrocketed to national attention last spring catching Oprah’s notice and spawning hundreds of YouTube knock-offs made by schools around the country.

Early endorsements for the Read On! campaign are both enthusiastic and contagious. Sponsors include New York Times’ best-selling author Peter Reynold’s FableVision Learning company of educational software, IndieBound, the public face of the American Booksellers’ Association, education proponent Senator Mary Landrieu from Louisiana, singer/songwriter superstars Sarah McLachlan and Ed Roland, along with a dozen award-winning children’s and teen authors who have promised autographed books to the winning school (including Rebecca Stead, Sharon Creech, Shaun Tan, Nikki Grimes, and Gene Luen Young, to name just a few.)

Can a catchy song and a video competition excite more kids to read? Julie Hahnke and von Grey think so. As the song Read On! tells us, “We must believe to achieve!”

For more information on the Read On! Literacy Campaign and the School Video Challenge, visit Julie Hahnke’s Web site: www.JulieHahnke.com

In early December I visited Mrs. Arnould’s second grade class at the Glover School here in Marblehead to talk about my raising luna & cecropia moths, and swallowtails over the last two summers. Here are excerpts from the thank-you notes the kids wrote me:

Dear Julie (Edmontoligist), How did you get all that information? – Brad   Brad, I started learning about bugs when I was your age, and I’d spend summers catching butterflies and caterpillars. Then I learned more when I took an entomology course in college. Now I explore outside, read a lot, and I raise moths and butterflies in the summers.

Dear Julie, It’s me, Fehr…If I read The Grey Ghost I think the luna moth would be my favorite character.  Hi Fehr! Pip, the luna moth, is fun, but I’ll bet you’d like Tethera, the pine marten, too!

…My mom thinks that insects are not that pretty. But I love insects. – Teddy  I agree, Teddy, that insects are fascinating! I guess your mom hasn’t seen the pretty ones. If your class hatches the luna moth cocoons I have for Mrs. Arnould, make sure your mom gets to see the moths - I bet she’ll change her mind.

When we learned about how a cocoon is different then a chrysalis it was really unique. – Your friend, Emily  Not many people realize that they’re different, Emily, so you’re definitely on your way to becoming a smart entomologist!

You are a fascinating lady. You like books and the luna moth. – Tanner   Yup, Tanner, there are lots of things that fill me with wonder. I love learning new things!

You could probably write a huge bestseller book about insects…Being a scientist must take guts! But it is also fun too! – Sean  I’m going to be busy writing more books in The Grey Ghost’s series, Sean, so an insect book will have to wait a bit. As for being a scientist, it mostly takes curiosity!

I enjoyed your presentation about you as an author.  – Sofia  I didn’t plan on being an author when I was your age, Sofia, but I’ve always loved reading and creative writing. So you keep on reading, and who knows – maybe you’ll be an author too!

I never knew that the orange/yellow Y-like thing comes out of a type of caterpillar. Your friend, Jack    I liked when the orange thing popped up when the larva was scared. – Schuyler   Jack and Schuyler, the orange/yellow thing is called an osmaterium and swallowtail caterpillars are the only species of butterflies and moths that have it.

It was funny when you told about the time the praying mantis fell asleep in the freezer and ate your homework. Hahahaha! Your friend, Jordan   Yeah, it was pretty funny, Jordan. Luckily, my teacher thought so too!

Thanks for letting us look at the moths and butterflies with the magnifying glass.  – Joey  That was actually Mrs. Arnould’s idea, Joey. It’s great that she has magnifying glasses for everyone! So I supplied the butterfly and moth bodies, and she supplied the magnifying glasses – a perfect combo!

I never knew that you know about other insects. Thank you for coming to my class. – Madison   My favorite bugs are butterflies, moths, beetles, dragonflies, and praying mantises. Spiders are my favorite non-insect arthropod, unless it’s for eating, in which case it’s definitely lobsters!  Thanks for inviting me to your class, Madison!

I loved it when you told us so much which was the whole time and I loved it when you showed us the video. – Joelle  My friends at FableVision Learning created the animation of the luna’s lifecycle and I took the time-lapse video of the moth pumping up its wings. I agree Joelle – it’s a fun way to learn about the luna moth’s lifecycle!

I love your books! The illistrations are spectactular! – Samantha  The illustrations are great, Samantha. I’ll be sure to tell Marcia Christensen, my good friend and illustrator, that you think so!

I learned so much more from you than any other person who raises insects! – Andrew   Being excited about a subject (like insects) in the second grade is how a life-long passion begins! I’ll bet you’ll always be a bug nut, Andrew!

I hope we will get the moths. Will we!!? – Caroline   Yes, Caroline – I have two luna moth cocoons reserved for your class!

I liked when you read part of The Grey Ghost. I bought the book. The beginning was a little sad. – Reid  The beginning of the story is a little sad. The story is about how Angus overcomes his grief. Things get funny once we meet the animal characters. Next time I visit your class, Reid, bring your copy in and I’ll autograph it for you!

Thanks so much for the letters, everyone! I can’t wait to see your finished insect projects!

Ira Rosenberg at Prime Motor Group in Saco, Maine, purchased a classroom set of The Grey Ghost for Thornton Academy Middle School (TAMS) and he’s generously sponsoring my visit to the school on Dec 13. In preparation for my visit, the sixth grade classes have been reading my book and I wanted to give the students an opportunity to ask me questions and offer any comments they might have.

Here are some of the comments from Liz Wrigley’s class:

The book has an interesting perspective of how things were back then. -Paige  Which elements of the setting [1526 Scotland] most surprised you, Paige?

It feels like a cliffhanger at the end of every chapter. -Ben  That’s good! A story needs to be suspenseful so that the reader wants to keep turning the page. The end of a chapter needs to be especially suspenseful, to keep you from wanting to put the book down. And, as if I paid him to say so, Michael adds: It is suspenseful – leaving you wondering what will happen next. Thank you, Michael and Ben!

I like the personality of Tethera. She is always eating Angus’ food. -Amanda  I watched a lot of videos of pine martens while I was creating Tethera’s character. I wanted her voice to be realistic. This one in particular gave me the idea to make her a creature ruled by her stomach: http://www.arkive.org/pine-marten/martes-martes/video-08a.html

I like how Angus can see through Yann’s and Tethera’s eyes. -Indigo  Adding that bit of magic makes the story much more interesting and the animal characters much more useful to Angus. It also adds some irony, because even though he can see and hear what they do, Angus is neither a pine marten nor a goshawk, so he doesn’t always know how to interpret what he sees and hears.

My favorite part was when Yann took off with the Laird’s head. -Hallee  That scene was fun to write, because I was trying to take this gross, disgusting decapitated head that had hung rotting on the castle gate for days and have Angus cradle it so tenderly and reverently in his interest of honoring and respecting his Laird. And you gotta love that chapter’s title: “Getting A Head.”

The illustrations help you understand the story. -Indigo  Most illustrations show you something you’ve already read. I wanted to use the illustrations differently. I wanted them to help tell the story, as Brian Selznick does with The Invention of Hugo Cabret.  But I didn’t want to use illustrations to tell whole scenes as he does. So I tried to set up scenes where the words took you right to the edge and then the illustration would show you something unexpected. As if the pictures were delivering the punch line.

The illustrations are very graphic. -Frank  Both Marcia Christensen, my illustrator, and I wanted the art to be very realistic. She taught me that in art that’s referred to as ”representational.”

Why are there blank pages throughout the book. -Michael  There are a couple of reasons for that. When binding a book, pages are gathered into “signatures” that get stitched or bound together. Each signature in The Grey Ghost is 16 pages (a signature is always a multiple of 8). There are blank pages in the back of the book to fill out the last signature. When a new chapter begins, some publishers will start it on the next available page, but some will always begin a chapter on the next right hand side page (known as recto – verso is the name of the left hand page). My publisher always starts on recto, so sometimes there’s a blank verso at the end of some chapters.

TAMS students – keep your questions coming! You can add them as comments onto this post and I’ll answer them as I can!

1. Is the violence necessary to the story? Is it integral to the development of plot, characters, setting, and theme?

If it’s not necessary, then it’s gratuitous—and gratuitous violence is highly detrimental to children and teens. Countless studies show how gratuitous violence desensitizes kids to the plight of the victims, and rather than debasing those who commit the violence, it glorifies them, making the violence seem desirable.

Hollywood filmmakers are the worst offenders at this, piling on gratuitous violence in movies and TV shows, using it to create an adrenaline rush in viewers. Game developers likewise amp up the violence to “hook” players on their games.

Not all violence is created equal, however. Historic violence is not the same as gratuitous violence. History lessons tend to report events, even those filled with violent acts, without endorsing or glorifying the violence. And history lessons often emphasize the impact on the victims in a sympathetic light.

A story set in a violent period needs to be realistic in order to be believable, but there are devices an author can use to lessen the intensity and impact of any violence mentioned in the story.

“Julie Hahnke’s books explore thought-provoking themes in realistic historic settings that are appropriate and valuable for upper elementary and middle grade readers. They’re required reading for my Child and Adolescent Literature course and I encourage teachers to consider them for classroom use.”
 – Lynn Chandler, Ed. D., Professor of Elementary Education, Franklin Pierce University, Rindge, NH

2. If violence or death is integral to a story, is it age appropriate?

It’s natural to want to shield younger children from all violence, death, and suffering, but in fact careful exposure is healthy for a child’s development, provided it doesn’t threaten a child’s sense of safety and well-being.

Noted children’s psychologist Bruno Bettelheim wrote in the 1970’s that the darker violence in many children’s fairytales (for example, Brothers Grimm, Aesop, and Hans Christian Anderson) is important for a child’s psychological growth because of the violence, and not despite it. He argued that even the youngest of children recognize that the violence and death in these tales is symbolic and isn’t seen as a direct threat. These fairytales provide a social context for children who may have to deal with change and loss in their own lives, and they teach that with resourcefulness children can overcome difficult situations.

I led a book club discussion last June with a group of fourth grade boys who’d read The Grey Ghost. I was speaking about some of the book’s themes, one of which is struggling with sudden loss and grief. The boys shifted the conversation and wanted to talk about the unexpected` death of one of their elementary teachers that spring. They told me that they understood how my main character, Angus, struggled with his grief. As we spoke I could see how they had used Angus’ coping with his loss to guide their own struggle to process their grief.

It’s important to protect children from inappropriate violence, but careful exposure to some violence and death is necessary, as well, to prepare them for the realities of the world in which they live.

3. What degree of shocking violence and disturbing detail is in the story?

While filmmakers and game developers may feel, “if a little violence is good, a lot is better!” the opposite is, in fact, true. An author should only include what’s absolutely required, and should soften its shock value where possible. The plot twists and irony should drive a story’s suspense, while minimizing the shock and horror impact of violent or “dark” scenes. There are several ways a story can do this.

Witnessing a violent act is much more intense than hearing about one. A book should use narrative to describe violence that’s happened “off stage” rather than dragging the reader through the violence “on stage” in real time. If violence is necessary, the adage, “tell, don’t show!” is best.

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are epic struggles between good and evil and are both outstanding literary works (The Hobbit was written for children while Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings for an adult audience). They’re filled with violence, but an epic struggle between good and evil would have to be. Yet, they’re not overly violent tales, because the worst of the violence is “off stage” and the reader doesn’t know the specifics. This is the next way we can soften the impact of violence.

Implication, rather than a detailed description, makes a scene far less intense and shocking. In The Grey Ghost, Angus watches the Campbell soldier’s burn down his clansmen’s cottages. But the text never states that the houses burn to the ground. Because the book’s illustrations help tell the story, we sometimes see it in a picture (it’s implied, but we don’t read the details.) And in one case we know the soldiers applied their torches, but further specifics of the burning houses are omitted. To add, “Angus heard the shrieks and cries of those within the cottage,” would be an example of disturbing detail that should be avoided. It’s not necessary and doesn’t further the scene. [NOTE – that sentence is not in the story!]

Humor is the best way to lighten a “dark” scene. Famed children’s author, Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach, among others) was asked about the violence and dark scenes in his children’s books. He responded, “I do include some violence in my books, but I always undercut it with humor. It’s never straight violence and it’s never meant to horrify. ” He went on to say, “You can have as disgusting an end for children or do something as weird as you like, so long as there’s a whopping great laugh with it.” (Trust Your Children: Voices Against Censorship in Children’s Literature. Ed. Mark West, 1988, pp.109-114)

In The Grey Ghost, the animal characters—particularly Tethera, an ever-hungry pine marten—keep humor always near the surface. In the chapter where Angus is upset that the Campbell soldiers hung his Chief’s head from the castle gate, and Angus attempts to recover the head (a head that he only views from a distance, and which is never described), the chapter title is, “Getting a Head.” Humor can keep the violence palatable and disarm its shock value (as long as it doesn’t endorse the violence or laugh at the victims), because it moves the reader along in the story and doesn’t dwell on the nasty details.

4. How do the story’s characters respond to the violence?

While these four questions need to be considered in aggregate, the characters’ responses to any violence is the most important criteria for evaluating violence in a story. If I wrote a story on bullying, for example, my story is neither good nor bad until we know how the characters react to the bullying. If the characters abhor the bully and the reader feels sorry for the victims and their experience, it could be a valuable story for kids. But if, rather, the bully gets off on his power in a heady rush, and is aggrandized for preying on the weak, then the story is horribly inappropriate for kids and teens. The characters’ reactions tell all.

In viewing Angus’ reactions, we have: Angus struggles with the loss of his home and family; he’s shocked when the Campbell soldiers disregard the custom of ransoming prisoners and they kill them outright; he worries for the souls of the victims and he prays for them so they’ll find their way to God; he wishes to protect the survivors who’ve suffered and he’s proud to see them act honorably in the face of the Campbells’ treachery; he mourns the loss of his Chief and wants to properly honor him; he’s appalled that while his Chief and the Chief’s heir—Angus’ cousin—always placed the needs of their clan members above all else, the Campbell Chief has a casual disregard for his men’s lives.

“The context of the soldiers’ actions in The Grey Ghost is far more important than the actions themselves. Author Julie Hahnke juxtaposes Clan Campbell’s unprovoked violence, against young Angus’ reactions to that violence, to deliver the deeper themes of the story. In a historical setting that’s accurate, while understating the violence of the period, she couldn’t deliver the book’s themes without it.

 “The story, through Angus’ perspective, consistently condemns the soldiers’ actions, creates empathy for the pain and grief of the survivors, explores Angus’ confusion over how a loving God could allow such terrible things to happen, and questions the difference between justice and revenge.

“The Grey Ghost delivers a far stronger condemnation of violence, than any advocacy for it. I feel it’s age appropriate for use in 4th and 5th grade classrooms.”
– Deb Reinemann, Ed. D., Curriculum Director, Chickering Elementary School, Dover, MA

Conclusion:

It’s necessary and responsible to limit children’s and teen’s exposure to gratuitous violence, but not all violence in a story is harmful. If the violence is integral to the story, if it’s age appropriate and presented with minimal shock value, and most importantly, if the story’s characters judge the violence to be wrong and show sympathy for the victims, then the story will not be detrimental to kids.

On October 15, eighty copies of The Grey Ghost began a journey from Marblehead, MA to three middle schools in Louisiana. Beset by ravaging hurricanes and a Gulf oil spill that’s devastated the state’s economy, what was a bad educational environment in Louisiana has now become a challenge that’s nearly insurmountable. Nearly.

During the last few years, the state has turned many of its lowest performing schools into charter schools, and among these, there are some who are working harder to do things better. These are the schools I call the rising charters of Louisiana.

Classrooms sets of my book, The Grey Ghost, have been very popular with teachers, because of the story’s strong curricular ties to science, history, English language arts, and Scottish culture. This summer I started marketing sets of 25-30 books for use in the classroom, as I simultaneously added curriculum content on my Web site to support teachers. The response has been excellent! In addition to the school and PTO/PTA purchases, a number of friends stepped forward, offering to purchase books for their school of choice (typically attended by their child or grandchild). And then I had offers to buy books for schools who didn’t have the money to purchase them—in many cases schools out of sight and out of mind from where we live.

The rising charters of Louisiana are such a deserving beneficiary of these donated sets of books. They’re overcoming unbelievable obstacles to give their students a quality education and the self-confidence to succeed. Our first three Louisiana schools are Children’s Charter in Baton Rouge  http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/59192467.html, St Helena Middle School in Greenburg, LA  http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/101538093.html?showAll=y&c=y, and Woodlawn Middle School in Baton Rouge.

I have a list of other hopeful schools. Would you like to help by giving a gift of reading? If not in Louisiana, then wherever you’d like to give it! If so, contact me at: jhahnke@comcast.net

Morse Pond School in Falmouth, MA has an annual “Battle of the Books” among its fifth and sixth grade students each year. Super school librarian, Liz Abbott, chooses a list of 25 books that the students can start reading over the summer. The kids form into teams in September (four or five students per team) and the team has until April to try and read the entire list. Following April vacation, the battle commences! Teams go head-to-head answering quiz-show-like questions about each book on the list. The winners advance, and class winners face off to determine pod winners, who then duke it out to choose grade winners. The final battle is between the winning fifth and sixth grade teams. The stakes are high—the overall school champ team wins a limo ride to pizza and ice cream (the limo, of course, picks up the winning team while all the kids watch at recess!)

This spring Liz Abbot informed me that The Grey Ghost was the most requested book on the battle list, so I returned to Morse Pond in April with an author visit to help properly launch the 2010 battle. Liz proudly reported later that none of the teams got any questions about The Grey Ghost wrong in the battles, but that it was hard to see teams that worked so hard fail to advance.

I wrote a letter to the Morse Pond students congratulating them for being battle veterans, and that by participating in the battle, they won something far greater than a limo ride—they’d deepened their love of reading! To reward this, I promised to design custom battle veteran bookmarks that I’d autograph for each student when I returned to Falmouth for a library talk on July 7. Eight Cousins Bookstore gladly hosted me on July 7, when I signed bookmarks for all the Morse Pond kids who came in. Included on the bookmark is an excerpt from “The Warrior’s Creed” which I wrote, based on the Marine Corps’ Rifleman’s Creed. Liz had the kids recite the creed before the final battle!

Keep on reading, Morse Pond battle veterans!