Minna wishes for many things. She wishes she understood the quote taped above her mother's typewriter:Fact and fiction are different truths. She wishes her mother would stop writing long enough to really listen to her. She wishes her house were peaceful and orderly like her friend Lucas's. Most of all, she wishes she could find a vibrato on her cello and play Mozart the way he deserves to be played. Minna soon discovers that some things can't be found-they just have to happen. And as she waits for her vibrato to happen, Minna begins to understand some facts and fictions about herself.

Eleven-year-old Minna Pratt is searching--for the vibrato that will make her a better cellist; for the love she may have found with her new friend, Lucas; and for a way to talk to her mother so that she will really listen. But as Minna observes family and friends, she discovers that some things cannot be found just by searching. An ALA Notable Children's Book.

Even though we instruct our children not to lie, the truth is that lying is a fundamental part of children’s development—socially, cognitively, emotionally, morally. Lying can sometimes be more compassionate than telling the truth, even more ethical. Reading specific children’s books can instruct child readers how to be guided by an etiquette of lying, to know when to tell the truth and when to lie. Equally important, these stories can help prevent them from being prey to those liars who are intent on taking advantage of them. Becoming a critical reader requires that one learn how to lie judiciously as well as to see through others’ lies. When humans first began to speak, we began to lie. When we began to lie, we started telling stories. This is the paradox, that in order to tell truthful stories, we must be good liars. Novels about child-artists showcased here illustrate how the protagonist embraces this paradox, accepting the stigma that a writer is a liar who tells the truth. Emily Dickinson’s phrase “telling it slant” best expresses the vision of how writers for children and young adults negotiate the conundrum of both protecting child readers and teaching them to protect themselves. This volume explores the pervasiveness of lying as well as the necessity for lying in our society; the origins of lying as connected to language acquisition; the realization that storytelling is both lying and truthtelling; and the negotiations child-artists must process in order to grasp the paradox that to become storytellers they must become expert liars and lie-detectors.

The Joyful Reading Resource Kit All children deserve a chance to learn to love reading. The Joyful Reading Resource Kit offers teachers an impressive array of tools, resources, and activities for getting students at all levels excited about reading while developing their proficiency in comprehension. Serving as a companion to Joyful Reading, the book offers teachers everything they need to implement the Schoolwide Enrichment Model in Reading (SEM-R), a differentiated instructional approach that encourages students to read independently for a period of time each day on books of their own choice. Implemented in three phases, the SEM-R program has been shown by research to improve fluency and comprehension among at-risk students. The Joyful Reading Resource Kit includes: Reproducible "bookmarks" for scaffolding students in critical thinking and comprehension activities Extensive lists of recommended books Tips for supporting students in selection of appropriately challenging books Materials for managing independent reading in the classroom, including log sheets, five-minute conference tips, writing prompts, assessment rubrics, and a reading growth chart Exciting enrichment resources to develop students' reading interests, including a survey form, online books, Web-based activities, and Renzulli Learning resources Hands-On Creativity activities that help students elaborate ideas, develop fluency, brainstorm, and much more Reproducible X-ploration projects on varied topics that students can pursue independently at their own pace The Joyful Reading Resource Kit is a vital compendium not only for classroom teachers but also for parents and after-school educators who wish to support students in discovering the rich rewards and delights of reading.

‘A child comes to terms with the fact that she and her family are leaving the prairie. . . . As she talks herself into acceptance, her Mama helps her let go, commenting that the baby will need someone to tell him where he came from. So the girl gathers mementoes—a bag of earth and a piece of cottonwood tree. . . .A novel hides in these few pages. As with Sarah, Plain and Tall, the subext vibrates. So much is told in each perfectly chosen phrase. The story is deep and specific, but the pain and denial of a child leaving a known and loved place is all too universal. Moser’s finely-wrought engravings, enhanced by moody tints, record the departure.’—SLJ. 1995 "Pick of the Lists" (ABA)

Now available in paperback! Until now, there was no theoretical research of character in children's fiction and very few comprehensive theoretical studies of literary characters in general. In her latest intellectual foray, the author of From Mythic to Linear ponders the art of characterization. Through a variety of critical perspectives, she uncovers the essential differences between story ('what we are told') and discourse ('how we are told'), and carefully distinguishes between how these are employed in children's fiction and in general fiction. Yet another masterful work by a leading figure in contemporary criticism.