Shutta Crum

It’s the time of year when I feel a bit like Leo Lionni’s grasshopper. Fall has well and truly come upon us in Michigan. The soy fields are dry and golden, the Virginia creeper wound round our trees is scarlet and we’ve had our first frost. Yesterday I heard sand hill cranes and assumed I’d [...]

 
Deb Diesen is a wonderful writer, good friend, and perhaps(?) an alien abductee. You may not know that her first book, THE POUT POUT FISH, was named by Time Magazine as one of the top ten children’s books of 2008. Check it out–you can’t help but smile.  Enjoy this lighthearted interview with Deb, and check [...]

 
A friend informed me of the non-profit organization, The National Society of Arts and Letters. It seems they are hosting a contest for 2010 for young (18-33 yrs) unpublished writers. Maybe that is you! Head on over to their site for specifics. http://arts-nsal.org .  
Happy Writing!
Shutta

I just finished posting a blog entry for BIG UNIVERSE, about the imaginative play of my grandchildren titled: Coffee Shop Theater. If you are interested in peeking at a bit of the imaginative life of children take a trip to Big U.
In the meantime, enjoy the children in your life and these final days [...]

 
The schmooze this year was a lot of fun with some old familiar faces showing up as well as a lot of new ones. We had every chair filled in a circle—28 of us! There was lots of good food as well as good conversation. I saw groups standing in the shade by the food [...]

1. Let’s start out with something kids often wonder. How old were you when you first started seriously writing?
I was a grownup with a child of my own. (Now I have two very large sons!) I enjoyed writing as a child, and always received praise from my teachers, but somehow ended up a graphic [...]

 
Wow! When it rains, it pours. I just got word that the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books will be giving THUNDER-BOOMER! an “R*” in its September issue. (Recommended, and an asterisk for “exceptional.”)
A writer friend asked if I knew that this book (my tenth) would be exceptional? And how did it feel writing [...]

Several friends have sent links to this wonderful video of the song AFRICA. It starts with creating the sound effects of a rain storm. Click here or on the sidebar. I can just see doing this with a whole group of kids! Music teachers?
The rock band Toto scored their biggest hit with this song in [...]

Lots of things are happening, and I haven’t updated this site in a while. So . . .
First, THUNDER-BOOMER! has garnered three starred reviews so far. (Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, and Horn Book Magazine) YAY! The reviewers are blown away by Carol Thompson’s amazing art—and so am I. (Pun intended.)
 
Second, A FAMILY [...]

I was reminded that the 2009 Bulwer-Lytton winners had recently been announced. I always enjoy these each year. This is the annual contest for the worst opening line (since 1983). It is named after Edward George Bulwer-Lytton who wrote the famous opening phrase that Snoopy used so often: “It was a dark and stormy night [...]