What do real kids read

School started recently, the community pool is closed, Halloween decorations are being pulled out of storage, and the weather is cooler. That can only mean one thing Summer is over. Our local library had a summer reading program with prizes every year. The kids had to keep a log and they were given free reign over what to choose as long as it was age appropriate. We also wouldn't let them count re-reads.

Our house has thousands of books that are all out in different rooms of the house. Our main method of buying is used books, online, and Kindle (they both prefer reading physical books -- a speculative post for another day?). Other medium's can influence their book reading decisions but reviews and book selling venues don't seem to.

I thought it might be interesting to see what kids pick on their own to read. There are many different spheres of influence that can come into play when buying a book but I don't know how much they come into play with kids. At least with my kids anyway I seem to be their biggest sphere of influence because I'm constantly buying stacks of used books that I think they might like.

So, here's what they read over the summer.

The Girl (12):

Fetching by Kiera Stewart
The Secret Language of Girls by Dovey Coe
Halloween Party by R. L. Stine
Free to Fall by Lauren Miller
Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
Hallow City by Ransom Riggs
Driver's Ed by Caroline B. Cooney
Unwind by Neal Shusterman
The Fault in our Stars by John Green

The Boy (13):

Batman Arkham City by Paul Dini
Department Nineteen by Will Hill
Department Nineteen: The Rising by Will Hill
Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo

What did your kids read this summer?

Does your story have a dog?

By Kristi Belcamino

Our family got our first dog this month.

She's perfect.

Her name is Bella! (She was already named.)

She was a rescue dog. She's a little over a year old. She's part Schnauzer and something else. Poodle? (Schnoodle) Yorkie? (Schnorkie) Maltese (Mauzer)?

Bella spent the past two months with my parents in Northern California living a quiet, rural life.

She's spent the last three weeks as a City Dog in our house in Minneapolis. She still hasn't adjusted to city life and barks and growls at all the people who walk by and the frequent stream of sirens.

I keep telling her that now she's a City Dog and she better get used to people and noises, but she is still adjusting.

Getting Bella and talking about her online and seeing how people react to my posts reminds me of a piece of advice I once received from a writing instructor.

The fall I wrote BLESSED ARE THE DEAD, I took a master writing class at the Loft Literary Center here in Minneapolis. The instructor, a published author, told us to add an animal into our story.

In fact, she said that several writers who have taken her class have told her that adding a pet was the best advice she gave them.

Based on this advice, I added a cat—Dusty—to my novel.

What I found was that the cat was an awesome, versatile plot device. I could use the cat to reveal a plethora of traits about my main character, Gabriella Giovanni. I could even use the cat to help show her character arc. Bingo. Great advice.

So, I will share that advice to you—try adding a pet to your manuscript and see where it takes you.

Thoughts?

Logos and Publishing Houses: Why the Need for Words?

by

Scott D. Parker

Another week of writing the same way I mentioned last week, so my mind drifted a bit this week. Football season started on Thursday and starts in earnest tomorrow. I’m talking NFL, of course, but the college guys are already on the gridiron. It’s got me thinking about logos.

With the NFL, lots of sites on the internet--SI.com; NBC Sports, etc.--make predictions about the upcoming season. My favorite, bar none, is Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback. I do not consider my weekend football complete until I’ve ready King’s column on Monday. He’s just about the best in the long-form sports journalism that I know.

Anyway, these sites make their predictions for the upcoming seasons and most of them use the team logo to indicate which team they think will advance to the playoffs. Here’s a shot of all 32 logos:

What I’ve always appreciated in a logo is the conveying of a message without letters. Most of the NFL teams (21 out of 32) do not use any form of a letter. Why do I like that? Frankly, I don’t like having things spelled out for me.

Publishing houses are different. Google “publishing house logos” and you will get a lot of them...and they almost all have words associated with them. When I think of logos for publishing houses that have a graphic, I can only think of three: Simon and Schuster, Random House, and Penguin.

Penguin’s the only one that can stand on it’s own but it’s so on the nose, it doesn’t need words to help the uneducated.

I wonder why that is? Why do logos for publishing houses almost always come with words? You don’t need words for AT&T, Mercedes Benz, or Pepsi.

What do y’all think of logos? Are publishing houses an inherently different animal and words are needed?