2008 Woodie Awards
Children's Lit authors lend advice to students at annual conference
Maggie Cosgrove
Issue date: 10/22/07 Section: Features
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West Chester University's Department of Literacy and College of Education hosted their Fourth Annual Children's Literature Conference this past Saturday, Oct. 20. This event, 3E Institute, was sponsored by Verizon and The Institute for Educational Excellence and Entrepreneurship, 3E is an organization at West Chester University that established the Educator 500 to recognize, reward and support entrepreneurial educators who create original, exciting learning opportunities for their students. A person can visit their Web site at www.3einstitute.org for more information concerning entrepreneurial openings.
First to speak at the conference was Linda Sue Park, most notably the winner of the 2001 Newbery Medal for her writing of "A Single Shard." Park gave an intriguing family-oriented explanation of her writings and the influence she receives from her Korean background.
Many, if not all, of Park's books pull from the different aspects of her background, and she even interviewed her parents and based "When My Name Was Keoko" on their provided information. Her most recent publication, "Tap Dancing on the Roof," explores the dimensions of poetry written in the Korean sijo form, a bit like the more commonly known haiku form.
Park explained that the message of each of her books was to leave readers reaching for another book as they turned the final page. No matter the genre, Park is sure to incorporate some sort of her past into her work, resulting in a text that bursts with enthusiasm and authenticity.
Next up was J. Patrick Lewis, who is known for both his picture books and poetry, gave a comical performance of his journey towards becoming a writer. Lewis, wanting to be a DJ when he was a boy, fell in love with literature late in life. With the discovery of literature from a college professor of his, Lewis then knew what he was supposed to do with his life- write.
Lewis recalls buying a large trashcan as he took his first steps towards becoming a writer for he feels, "Nothing succeeds like failure." Failing everyday led him to where he is today and gave him the great knowledge he currently has. Lewis explained that we would be nothing, and learn nothing, if it were not for occasional failure, or in his case, daily failure.
First to speak at the conference was Linda Sue Park, most notably the winner of the 2001 Newbery Medal for her writing of "A Single Shard." Park gave an intriguing family-oriented explanation of her writings and the influence she receives from her Korean background.
Many, if not all, of Park's books pull from the different aspects of her background, and she even interviewed her parents and based "When My Name Was Keoko" on their provided information. Her most recent publication, "Tap Dancing on the Roof," explores the dimensions of poetry written in the Korean sijo form, a bit like the more commonly known haiku form.
Park explained that the message of each of her books was to leave readers reaching for another book as they turned the final page. No matter the genre, Park is sure to incorporate some sort of her past into her work, resulting in a text that bursts with enthusiasm and authenticity.
Next up was J. Patrick Lewis, who is known for both his picture books and poetry, gave a comical performance of his journey towards becoming a writer. Lewis, wanting to be a DJ when he was a boy, fell in love with literature late in life. With the discovery of literature from a college professor of his, Lewis then knew what he was supposed to do with his life- write.
Lewis recalls buying a large trashcan as he took his first steps towards becoming a writer for he feels, "Nothing succeeds like failure." Failing everyday led him to where he is today and gave him the great knowledge he currently has. Lewis explained that we would be nothing, and learn nothing, if it were not for occasional failure, or in his case, daily failure.
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