Captain Chicken at 826 Boston

826 Boston, the after-school writing program, has been in the news lately, and rightfully so. It's not surprising that the kids turn out such great work. The program is amazing and the instructors are inspired, enthusiastic, and smart. And what better front for a writing room than the Greater Boston Bigfoot Research Institute? I was lucky enough to be a guest instructor there last year, and it was incredible to see how they work, how they have the teaching of creative writing down to a science. I had a great time in my pirate story workshop helping the students develop their own stories, particularly the villains. One of my favorites was Captain Chicken, a humanoid, seaworthy fowl who has pens for hands – you know, since the pen is mightier than the sword. There were also a number of radioactive sea monsters. The influence of Captain Jack Sparrow and his adventures was hard to filter out, but overall the kids were very creative and surprisingly willing to work, given that they’d come in during a school vacation.

To learn more about 826 Boston, or lend your support, click here.  Also, the director, poet Daniel Johnston, has great taste in pens. The Pilot P-500 is unmatched. 

Book Dads

A great take on Fish by teacher and reviewer Renny Fong:

"Whether read aloud or independently, this book will be hard to put down. Fish dishes it all out: action, suspense, mystery, and plenty of hearty laughs...Fish awakens all of the senses in its details, particularly smell. Mone writes it; you smell it. Your nose wrinkles up as Fish, being the lowest on the totem pole, has to scrub the 'seats of easement' and gets too close to pirate’s breath and feet. Suspense and action are raw, with each chapter leaving you hungry for more."

The rest of the Book Dads review is here.

The Story of Fish

The Pirates are Winning

A fascinating, comprehensive story on the modern pirate problem ran in a recent New York Review of Books. An excerpt:

"Somali pirates will strike anything: one-thousand-foot-long oil tankers; tiny sailboats with three people on board; old-fashioned, crescent-sailed Arab dhows; freighters crammed with emergency food; freighters crammed with weapons; a tanker carrying extremely flammable benzene that American authorities worried could be converted into an enormous, floating bomb. The pirates have even attacked navy ships, apparently by mistake."

FISHing on Martha's Vineyard

CK Wolfson of the Martha's Vineyard Times wrote a very complimentary, thoughtful piece on FISH a few weeks back, calling it:

"...a suspenseful, rollicking, fact-filled pirate tale that will keep children and young teens reading by their flashlights into the night."

We also had a few great events on Martha's Vineyard last month. Thanks to Zoe at Riley's Reads for hosting a wonderful reading in early August, full of prizes, snacks, and costumed attendees. The highlight of that event was the dramatic re-enactment of one of the early scenes. We had a wonderful Fish - have you finished the book yet, Fish? - and a band of fairly fearsome pirates as well. Plus, no one was hurt.

I apologize to Zoe for not delivering on the promised shanty, and not bringing a pen, but in terms of the singing, I think we were all better off in the end.

A few weeks later, on August 26th, Nelia Decker and the West Tisbury Public Library, a wonderful space that's absolutely packed with great books, hosted another event downstairs in the childrens' room. We tried two scenes this time; I think I preferred the grunt-filled conversation between Fergal and Uncle Gerry. That said, the action scenes were also stupendous. Miles, you did an absolutely stellar job.

I'll be scheduling a number of school visits soon, but hope to set up a few more of these dramatic readings, too.

Keep checking back for details.

The Economics of Modern Piracy

Very interesting and detailed piece here on the economics of modern piracy. In the Golden Age, pirates would try to capture ships carrying valuable cargo so that they could actually sell the cargo. Now, if they take a tanker with $100M to $150M of oil, they know it's going to be too hard to actually sell the petrol, so they ransom it instead. Eventually, a third-party arranges to have a few million dollars dropped onto the boat via helicopter. The pirates take the money and flee, the owner gets his ship back, the oil company gets its petrol back, and the insurance company reimburses the client for the ransom.

The total amount of ransoms paid last year was reportedly around $50M.

Cleveland Elementary

5th graders are bright. I visited Cleveland Elementary School in Norwood, Massachusetts, two weeks ago to talk about FISH, journalism, writing in general. At one point, one of the kids posed a great question.

"If you've written something that you think is great, but your friend reads it and says it's really bad, do you listen to your friend?"

My answer was a little long and winding, but I basically said that you have to think about your friend's critique, and consider whether there might be any truth to it, but ultimately you have to listen to yourself. I added that you should never take the first person's word. You're better off waiting for a whole bunch of people to tell you that you're terrible before you start thinking about believing them.

After class, one of the kids caught me in the hall. He was nervous, maybe a little annoyed. He summarized what I'd said with regards to criticism, then pointed out a contradiction. Earlier in the class, when another kid asked me whether I was an artist, I answered that I'm not very good, then cited the fact that a very skilled illustrator once told me exactly that.

The kid recounted this story about my artistic skills, then said, "You contradicted yourself! Maybe you're not such a bad artist after all."

A budding lawyer, perhaps.

The Balch School

A group of Balch Elementary School third-graders and I had a great time talking about books, writing, pirates, and FISH in the packed school library. A few miniature journalists in the class came prepared with questions. Here's a sample:

"Did you always want to be a writer?"

No, I said, I wanted to be in the NBA. They laughed.

"Did you play sports when you were younger?"

Yes: lacrosse, basketball, football, swimming. This answer generated numerous high-fives.

"Did you write Twilight?"

No, and you can tell by my car.

"Is Fish a series?"

Not yet....but of course I have plans for him!

FISH: First Review

A great review from the smart, inventive Cory Doctorow went up on boingboing.net on Tuesday. Here's an excerpt:

Chock full of real historic curiosities about pirates, sly humor for grownups, excellent action scenes and general quantities of swash and buckle, Fish is a great, self-contained addition to the canon of fun pirate fiction. Perfect for young readers, even better for reading aloud at bed-time, thanks to the plentiful cliff-hangers.

And the rest.