Shutta Crum

I know I should be thinking more about the recent children’s book award winners. Instead, I’ve been thinking a lot about Slumdog Millionaire.  (I was glad to see it nominated for an Oscar!) One thing I especially like about the movie is its literary structure. I love that it starts in medias res (the protagonist is getting slapped by [...]

The awards have been made, and the winners are:

2009 Newbery Awards

2009 Newbery Medal:
Neil Gaiman, author of “The Graveyard Book,” illustrated by Dave McKean. Published by HarperCollins Children’s Books.
2009 Newbery Honor Books:
“The Underneath” by Kathi Appelt, illustrated by David Small. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing
“The Surrender Tree: Poems [...]

For those of you who want to get a jumpstart on writing and publishing in the new year . . . I’ll be presenting a day-long (2 -part) writing program for the Farmington (Michigan) Community Library on Saturday, January 17, 2009.  The basic info is below . . . and at the Farmington Comm. Library site at:  http://www.farmlib.org/ .
Event [...]

As many of you know my Dad suffered from Alzheimer’s, and I’ve written of the sometimes funny and insightful things he’d said, or done.  Before he went to live in an assisted living home he would totter after mother around their house—he was afraid to let her out of his sight—wherever she went, he went. True [...]

Here’s a shout-out of happiness for my dear friend, Hope Vestergaard, who just revised and expanded the perennial bestseller Capricorn Rhyming Dictionary.  (Originally published in 1938.) This edition, NOTHING RHYMES WITH ORANGE: Perfect words for Poets, Songwriters, and Rhymers, includes a phonetic spelling guide, a key to rhyming sounds that are spelled differently, fun sidebars, and [...]

My agent contacted me and it seems that Knopf is going to make an offer on another book. YAY! It is so great to get good news these days, especially as these past few months have been devastating to me and my family and since so many publishing firms are cutting back on staff and [...]

I need to get back to work.  I REALLY NEED to get back to work . . . there is a January deadline looming.
There are so many lures out there, so many siren songs to do other things—not the least of which is that I must help my family with the transition and all the [...]

Just attended another great Soc. of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrator’s fall conference here in Michigan. It’s good to periodically get one’s spark plugs all polished and ready to fire again. Congrats to all who worked so hard to present such a good conference.
Kudos to you!
 

 
And happy writing!
Shutta

Welcome to my new homepage and blog! I am very excited about the beautiful design, and the increased ease of updating it by using a wordpress template. Here you will find answers to the questions you might have about my books, me, my presentations and lectures. Also, if you have general questions about writing, creativity, children’s books, [...]