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By Laura Nyman Montenegro I am at the top of the toboggan slide at East Park. The platform is icy, the snow squeaky under my clunky black boots. I brush the scrabble of ice off the plastic toboggan pad with my mitten. I sit down, tuck my feet into the big wooden curl, and grab the Continue reading From the Mundane to the Mysterious By Lisa A. Gavin I made an immediate connection with James Alexander Thom’s book The Art and Craft of Writing Historical Fiction because of my own sense of history. It started in elementary school when I visited New Salem, the small village in Illinois where Abraham Lincoln spent his early adulthood. That old village, reconstructed to Continue reading A Sense of History By M. Molly Backes Personally, I think the beginning of a story is the hardest part to write. When I was working on The Princesses of Iowa, I wrote the ending once and didn’t change much in revisions. I rewrote some chapters in the middle quite a bit, while I hardly touched others. But the beginning? Continue reading First Things Third: How to Write a Great Beginning By Jodell Sadler As a new member of the CYBILS 2012 fiction picture book judges panel, I thought choosing a top five out of 238 fiction picture books might be a relatively easy task. I expected the best of the best to rise up and almost slap me in the face. I thought I was well Continue reading THE MONSTERS’ MONSTER: Pacing, Prosody & Playful Equals Powerful Performance By M. Molly Backes Like any good Chicagoan, I’ve studied improv, and much of what I know about writing fiction I learned in improv classes. The two have a lot in common. They’re both concerned with human relationships. They both work best when they trust their audience to help them build a story together (my fiction professor Continue reading Speak the Speech: Dialogue Lessons from Improv By Laura Nyman Montenegro Over and over and over again, I hear it. I know this lament well, I have heard it from almost every illustrator I know. It has been my own lament as well. In fact, it has been such a stumbling Continue reading Finding the Shape of Story By Juliet C. Bond Finding My Mentor In 2005, I was awarded a scholarship to the Highlights writer’s workshops in Chautauqua, New York. Though I’d been successful in having a picture book published, at that time, I would not have been so brave as to call myself a writer. I’d never met other children’s book writers, Continue reading Lessons on the Way through the Woods: “Taking Joy” with Jane Yolen By Jodell Sadler Having read some great books these past couple of weeks, including Scars by Cheryl Rainfield (an excellent read) and A Dog Called Homeless by Sarah Lean (a story with heart), I wasn’t sure what to do for Book Look this time. Then, I decided to honor the art of picture book writing and join in Continue reading FINN THROWS A FIT! Shows Us Picture Book Magic By Jodell Sadler Writers have reason to be amazed with Wendelin Van Draanen’s writing in The Running Dream and may want to study it fully. It’s a dream read—simply a fast-paced dream of a read. Any writer interested in moving a story swiftly with daring depth might review this title. This writer knows how to push Continue reading THE RUNNING DREAM Really Is a Dream Read By Paula Morrow Yes, there are second chances in life. One of my lingering regrets used to be that I missed Prairie Writer’s Day in 2008, when Cheryl Klein was on the faculty. I’ve long admired her as one of the most perceptive editors in contemporary children’s publishing and would have loved to benefit from her knowledge Continue reading First-Class Writers Need Second Sight 
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