What winter holidays do your students celebrate? Here’s a great chance to explore the different religious and cultural celebrations throughout the winter months!

Award winning author Patricia McKissack shares with students over a three part videoconference series her expertise when in comes to writing, and tells participants about her holiday book, Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters. This illustrated book, for children ages nine and up, compares the preparations between the plantation mansion and the slave quarters leading up to Christmas celebrations.

Register no later than November 1! To learn more about this videoconference, scroll down.

Read St. Louis is a community-wide initiative developed by St. Louis County and St. Louis Public Libraries to encourage St. Louisans to read and discuss books.

AUTHOR EVENT: Patricia McKissack, Stitchin’ and Pullin’: A Gee’s Bend Quilt

Public Event and Book Signing at the St. Louis Public Library – Schlafly, located at 225 North Euclid Avenue in St. Louis, MO on Saturday, October 24, at 2:00 p.m.
Patricia McKissack will discuss and sign her book, Stitchin’ and Pullin’. Mother and daughter, grandmother and granddaughter, aunt and niece, friend and friend. For a hundred years, generations of women from Gee’s Bend have quilted together, sharing stories, trading recipes, singing hymns – all the while stitchin’ and pullin’ thread through cloth. Every day Baby Girl listens, watches, and waits, until she’s called to sit at the quilting frame. Piece by piece, she puzzles her quilt together – telling not just her story, but the story of her family, the story of Gee’s Bend, and the story of her ancestors’ struggle for freedom. Patricia C. McKissack is the author of the Caldecott Honor Book Mirandy and Brother Wind and the Newbery Honor Book The Dark-Thirty. She and her husband, Fred, have written over 100 books about the African American experience. She lives in St. Louis, Missouri. Books for sale courtesy of Barnes & Noble.

Stitchin’ and Pullin’
Come experience the Patricia C. McKissack book Stitchin’ and Pullin’: a Gee’s Bend Quilt as we read some of the poems from the book and make beautiful quilt squares to take home. Recommended for ages 3-5.

Thursday, October 1, 1:00 p.m.
Headquarters, 1640 S. Lindbergh Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63131

Friday, October 2, 10:00 a.m.
Daniel Boone Branch, 300 Clarkson Road, Ellisville, MO 63011

Thursday, October 15, 10:00 a.m.
Weber Road Branch, 4444 Weber Road, St. Louis, MO 63123

Wednesday, October 21, 10:00 a.m.
Natural Bridge Branch, 7606 Natural Bridge Road, St. Louis, MO 63121

Thursday, October 22, 10:00 a.m.
Jamestown Bluffs Branch, 4153 N. Hwy 67, Florissant, MO 63031

Each year, Missouri students in fourth through sixth grades vote for their favorite book from a list of nominated books to honor one with the title of the Mark Twain Readers Award.

(Students, teachers, librarians and parents can recommend books for the award). The participating students are eligible to vote for their favorite book if they have read at least four of the titles on the current master list. Then the Mark Twain Readers Award is given to the author of the winning book by the Missouri Association of School Librarians (MASL).

Nominated for 2009-2010 is New Links to New Learning author Patricia McKissack, for her 2007 book, A Friendship For Today (Scholastic Press). According to MASL, “the purpose of the Mark Twain Award is to provide children of Missouri with a recommended reading list of literature that will enrich their lives.”

Congrats to Pat for being nominated! Voting ends in March 2010.

The latest Author Visit Podcast is now up on podbean.com. Patricia McKissack reads from her book, Goin’ Someplace Special, a story about the injustices of segregation in the South in the 1950s.

Pat’s podcasts include reading excerpts from her books Tippy Lemmey and Clone Codes.

New Links to New Learning and Patricia McKissack are excited to announce two new programs to her videoconference offerings!

In addition to her three part writing series and story hour sessions, Pat will be offering “talk shop” videoconferences on historical fiction and science fiction. These one hour programs are for middle school and high school students, and will be available upon request. During the videoconference, Pat will talk with students on the ins-and-outs of writing either historical fiction or science fiction.

Where does the writer start? What kind of brainstorming techniques does she find most useful? How does Pat research for her books?

These questions, plus more, will be discussed between author and students. Patricia McKissack is the author of over one hundred books, many historical fiction. Her newest book, due out in January 2010, is her first science fiction novel. To see all of the 2009-2010 McKissack videoconferences, visit the New Links to New Learning website. This videoconference is $200 for New Links to New Learning members and $250 for nonmembers.

To listen to Patricia McKissack’s newest podcast, click on the photo below!

In this new podcast, enjoy a sneak peak of acclaimed author Patricia McKissack’s new science fiction novel, Clone Codes.

Patricia is a New Links to New Learning content provider; she’s been conducting interactive videoconferences with K-12 students for over ten years from Cooperating School Districts.

This year, in addition to her three-part writing series, she’s adding three, 60 minute story hours for elementary students, and two Talk Shop programs on either historical fiction or science fiction, for middle school and high school students. (More details will come later on the secondary school programs!)

To read more about Patricia and what she offers students and teachers, please scroll through this blog.

What winter holidays do your students celebrate? Here’s a great chance to explore the different religious and cultural celebrations throughout the winter months!

Award winning author Patricia McKissack shares with students over videoconference her expertise when in comes to writing, and tells participants about her holiday book, Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters. This illustrated book, for children ages nine and up, compares the preparations between the plantation mansion and the slave quarters leading up to Christmas celebrations.

Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters
Patricia McKissack and Fredrick McKissack
Illustrated by John Thompson
Details of holiday observances practiced by the wealthy residents as well as the slaves who lived on a large Virginia plantation in 1859 are shared through narrative, songs, recipes and glorious illustrations. The love of family and the bonds of traditions are made bittersweet by the tumultuous changes wrought by the upheavals inherent in the lives of the slaves and the impending wrenching changes wrought by war. The book is meticulously attendant to historical accuracy and never descends into an overly sentimental view. Detailed notes follow the text, with further interesting tidbits (for example, the phrase “sleep tight” refers to the rope slats supporting a mattress which must be tight to avoid uncomfortable sagging). Winner of the 1995 Coretta Scott King Award.

During the first videoconference, Pat will talk with the participating teachers about what they are doing in class and how this videoconference relates to their curriculum. In the second and third videoconferences, Pat interacts directly with the students. In the final connection, students will have an opportunity to share their work with their peers and Pat. Pat offers her praise and critique of the work, though often encouraging students to revise and rewrite!

Students in past videoconference connections have written about several winter holidays, including (but not limited to) Chinese New  Year, Ramadan, and Kwanzaa.

To have your class sign up for this interactive videoconference series, contact Rebecca Morrison at Cooperating School Districts to learn about costs and expectations. Each videoconference should have no more than 30 students per class, and we never connect more than three schools at one time. Pat works with students of all ages, but we work to schedule to make sure the right groups are working together (a second grade class would never work with a seventh grade class, for instance).

We hope to see you this holiday session! Here are the dates for 2009’s programs:

Teacher Session: Thursday, November 5 at 4 pm CT
First Student Session: Tuesday, November 24 at 11 am CT
Second Student Session: Tuesday, December 15 at 11 am CT

Welcome!

To see a full list of 2009-2010 Author Visit Videoconference options available from Patricia McKissack, please visit the New Links to New Learning website.

Also, scroll through this blog, Writer’s Workshop, to learn more about past & upcoming programs, as well as about Pat’s books.