Meet Authors of Children Books

Chatroom - Twelfth Animal Diaries Chat
 
22 November 2002

JK = Jane Kurtz, writer of several books
rene = Mr. Rene de Vries, teacher of De Wadden
Goble = Mrs. Joan Goble, teacher of Cannelton Elem., and students

*** New Messages appeared at the top of the page ***

>>
Mrs. G wrote: Yes, we will send you some then. Bye and thanks! tot ziens!

jk wrote: All right, Rene. E-mail me and we'll talk about it!

rene wrote: bye for now

Mrs. G wrote: We say: Thank you both!

jk wrote: I'd love to see some of your work about vervet monkeys and put some of it on my web page.

Rene wrote: take a day or two for a stop over in Amsterdam, so I can invite you to visit my country / school ;-)

rene wrote: sssttttt, that was supposed to me a secret, that i am silly ;-)

Mrs. Goble's class wrote: Yes, thank you and we will continue reading and writing...maybe we can send to you some of our drawings and such about the vervet monkeys?

jk wrote: Good-bye everyone. Talk to you another time!

jk wrote: Thanks for the Holland connection. I'll come through Amsterdam on my international journeys next year.

Rene wrote: Bye to you all,,,, tot ziens

Mrs. G's class wrote: We are looking forward to Mr. Rene's visit. They have heard what a silly Dutchman he is!

Rene wrote: we here in Holland also want to thank you for your time to chat with us.

jk wrote: Some sixth graders are wonderful for author visits--if they've read the books and thought carefully about their answers. Thank you very much for the nice chat! Good luck with your reading and writing.

Mrs. Goble wrote: Ms. Kurtz, I hate to say it, but we need to leave the chat now. We want to thank you for this! Also, if you have anything to send for author visits...we would like to see about the possibility of you coming our way someday. :-)

rene wrote: 6th graders are the best... since after that they will leave my school, hahaha

jk wrote: How fun that you get to visit the Cannelton students in January. Don't worry, third graders. Fourth grade is pretty wonderful too.

Mrs. Goble's class wrote: ;-) we think 3rd grade is best! (but, then...next year, 4th grade will be best...etc.!) ha!

rene wrote: I will visit the cannelton students in january ;-)

jk wrote: Yes, I don't think I've been in Indiana as an author. But that reminds me to also say Michigan and Wisconsin and of course Minnesota.

jk wrote: Heather, I used to teach 3rd and 4th graders, and I think those ages are still my favorites in a lot of ways. I also taught high school and college students, but they're not as much fun for author visits.

Mrs. Goble's class wrote: We hope you can add Indiana to your list, Mrs. Kurtz...and Mr. Rene, we want you to add our class to your list of classes you have visited too! :-)

Rene wrote: here in Holland it is pretty common to invite authors or illustrators to visit your school during national children's book week

Mrs. G's class wrote: Heather wants to know: What is your favorite age of students to talk to?

jk wrote: Pennsylvania, Washington, Florida, Illinois...

Mrs. Goble's class wrote: Mr. Rene has seen more of theUSA than Mrs. Goble has! Wow, Ms. Kurtz...you have been to a lot of places!!!

jk wrote: It seems to me that I get invitations at so many different times...I'm not sure whether I get more during Children's Book Week or not.

jk wrote: Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Ohio, Texas, East Africa...

jk wrote: I've spoken to students from kindergarten through high school. Recently, in Iowa, I only spoke to 3rd and 4th graders. Let's see...I've spoken in California, Oregon, Maine, Missouri, North Dakota, Iowa...and that was just this fall.

rene wrote: is it common in USA to invite Children's Book writers during annual USA's national Children's Book Week?

Mrs. Goble's class wrote: Yes! We agree! one day we would like to meet you in real life!

Mrs. Goble's class wrote: Gary wants to know: What states have you gone to when you visit schools? What age students also?

jk wrote: It was pretty exciting. Did you see the pictures on my web page? I loved meeting the other authors because, as I said, I never met any authors when I was your age. I think getting a chance to meet someone whose books I've read is one of the most special things in the world.

Mrs. Goble's class wrote: When you met Mrs. Bush at that book award ceremony, what was it like to meet her?

jk wrote: Christopher is working on a story right now. He has always been more of a story teller than a story writer. But I think the work we've done together has made him love writing more than he did in the beginning. He kind of needs his big sister to motivate him, though.

Mrs. Goble's class wrote: Your brother...does he write other books on his own?

rene wrote: any more questions for JK?

jk wrote: That's good. River Friendly River Wild has an animal in it also...and the things that happen in the book are mostly based on my real life. 800 pets had to be rescued from houses in Grand Forks, where I was living when the flood came. Boats went around to rescue the animals that were stranded.

jk wrote: I spoke in a school in Iowa City last week, and one student said, "Why is WATER HOLE WAITING half rhyme and half not?" I said, "Because rhyme is only one way to play around with language." I love to play with the sounds of words, including rhyme, but not only rhyme.

Mrs. G's class wrote: We want to read River Friendly River Wild next

jk wrote: Tabatha, you are very observent. The first thing I ever published was poetry. I think all picture books are quite poetic. But my most recent picture books are most poetic--River Friendly River Wild, Water Hole Waiting, and Rain Romp.

rene wrote: sounds like my students, grabbing candy from Mrs. Goble out of my hand ;-)

Mrs. Goble's class wrote: Tabatha asks: Do you like to write poetry...the book seems like a poem?

jk wrote: Sammie, I'm working on three books right now. THat's why I can have three different conversations at the same time in this chat :> All three are novels. And I'm waiting to hear from an editor about the book on the two seasons, so my brother and I can work on it some more.

jk wrote: They can be prety cute. But they are also quite aggressive. When you are eating a picnic lunch in lots of places in Ethiopia, the vervets will come and grab the food almost out of your hands.

SAMMIE wrote: Are you working on a new book now?

Mrs. G class wrote: Yes, we loved reading about the vervet monkey on your website. They are cute

jk wrote: Rene, as to whether the book will be available in Dutch...I don't know. Subrights are completely out of my hands. It will depend on whether a publisher there approaches my publisher in the US. 

jk wrote: Devin, you're right. The danger is eagles. So isn't it interesting that they have different calls to communicate with each other?

Rene wrote: Frank says: danger in the air from vulturine birds?

Mrs. Goble's class wrote: Yes, we did, thanks...ok, Devin says: the danger might be eagles or owls or other birds that like to eat monkeys?

jk wrote: The name of my very first book is I'm Calling Molly. Tabatha, I read all the time. These days, I read lots of nonfiction. That's how I learned about monkey communication. I also read lots of children's novels.

Mrs. Goble's class wrote: Tabatha wants to know: Do you read other books, what do you like to read?

jk wrote: Sara, I did write about monkey talk on this chat. I don't know how you see the answers, but, Mrs. Goble, is it possible to go back and look for my answers about monkey communication? Because I think it's very interesting, and I'm still waiting for someone to say what danger they think monkeys would look for up in the air.

Mrs. Goble's class wrote: Payton wants to know: What was the name of your very first book?

Rene wrote: that book with short stories about Africa... would it be available in Dutch too?

jk wrote: Brittany, WATER HOLE WAITING is #16. It's my almost newest book. And, Cody, I'm a little too old to answer questions about my age.

Mrs. Goble's class wrote: Sara W. wants to know: did you get to tell us about monkey talk?

jk wrote: Yes, it's very high up. So that's why people's hearts and lungs are in good condition from training in such a high altitude.

BRITTANY wrote: Which number book is Water Hole Waiting?

jk wrote: Rene, I'm glad to know that your 6th grade students are studying Africa. I proposed a book of short stories connected to Africa because it seems that here in the US, Africa is studied most often in the middle school years.

Mrs. G's class wrote: Cody S wants to know...how old are you, Ms. Kurtz? ;-)

rene wrote: wow.... 8000 foot is around 2500 meters, that is pretty high !

jk wrote: Also, people's lives in Ethiopia don't tend to be easy, so many of them have trained for a long, long time and have a lot of self-discipline. And there is no winter, as we were just discussing, so they can train all year long.

jk wrote: Oops. Now I see you back here. Gracie, I remember writing a story that was published in my high school newspaper. Frank, I think one reason is that most of EThiopia is a very high altitude. I grew up at an 8000 foot altitude. So their lungs are strong. So are their hearts.

Rene wrote: Frank wants to know: JK, do you know why Ethiopian men are such good runners (marathon runners)?

jk wrote: So is this the end of our chat? I'm a little confused!

Rene wrote: my 6th grade students are learning about Africa right now, about the savanne, deserts and such

Mrs. G's class wrote: Gracie wants to know...how old were you when you wrote your first book or story?

jk wrote: There's no ice in Ethiopia, either. My brother and I went back to work on our book about seasons after we finished WATER HOLE WAITING.

Rene wrote: Bradley is the man ! He is sooooo right !

Mrs. G's class wrote: Bradley knows! He says, you Dutch like to ice skate!

jk wrote: Cody, RAIN ROMP, my newest book, is # 17 of books I've published. But I've written so many books that I never have counted them. I had to write and write and write before I became good enough to publish a book.

Cody Winkler wrote: How many books have you written?

jk wrote: Frank, you're very close. It's leopards that are predators of those vervets. And they can escape the leopards (mostly) if they climb trees. If a monkey gives a third call, the other vervets all look up in the air. Any idea what kind of predator they are looking for up in the air?

Cody Winkler wrote: How many books have you written?

Mrs. Goble's class wrote: Yes!!! Most of us do!

Rene wrote: we do not like Fall very much... too much rain and storm... we do like summer and winter... USA students, why would we Dutch like the winter so much?

jk wrote: We brainstormed about dry season in the city and then dry season on the savanna. We thought about how the water hole gets smaller in dry season. Before we knew it, we were writing about the water hole instead of about rainy season and dry season. Do any of you start to write about one thing and end up writing about something else?

Rene wrote: Yes, we have 4 seasons

Cody Winkler wrote: 

rene wrote: running up into a tree... Franks syas: predator Rene ? (haha).... maybe a Lion?

jk wrote: So we decided to write about rainy season and dry season. We started out by brainstorming, as you might do before you start to write. We wanted to brainstorm the things that happen in rainy season and dry season.

jk wrote: Hi, Cody. After Chris and I wrote ONLY A PIGEON, we wanted to write another book together. We were thinking about how here in the US, we talk so much about the four seasons. But there aren't four seasons in Ethiopia--only two. Are there four seasons in Holland, Rene?

jk wrote: Yes, that's right, Frank. Snakes. If a vervet monkey gives a second kind of call, the other vervets will run up into a tree. Do you have any idea what kind of predator they could escape by running up into a tree?

Mrs. G's class wrote: Cody Wright asks: Where did you get the idea for Water Hole Waiting?

kl wrote: Hi, Brittany. Students always seem to want to know my favorite book. I tell them it's a little like asking a mom which her favorite kid is, because my books are all so personal to me. Have you ever asked your mom that question? By the way, that's supposed to be vervet, not verbet monkeys.

rene wrote: danger low in the grass: Frank says: snakes?

jk wrote: Well, the verbet monkeys that we wrote about in WATER HOLE WAITING have different kinds of calls when there is danger. If they give one kind of call, the other monkeys will stand up on their hind legs and look down in the grass. What kind of danger do you think would be low in the grass?

Mrs. G's class wrote: Brittany is in our class...she is upstairs in the 4th grade on one of their computers

Mrs. G's class wrote: Tell us about your monkey language you learned...;-)

BRITTANY wrote: What is your favorite book that you hav e written?

Mrs. Goble's class wrote: Bright Star is supposed to be here

jk wrote: I know some things about monkey language that I never knew before Chris and I wrote WATER HOLE WAITING.

rene wrote: Mrs. Goble, is Bright Star Academy also coming?

Mrs. Goble's class wrote: Yes, we read Water Hole Waiting :-)

jk wrote: I can understand quite a bit of Amharic--and when I was a kid, I could speak it well enough to communicate with my playmates or bargain in the markato, but I was never fluent the way my bother is. I also studied French and Spanish in school, so I know bits of those languages.

Mrs. Goble's class wrote: Can you speak another language Ms. Kurtz?

jk wrote: He also studied Russian for a while, since many of his students at one point came from Russia. He's just good with languages, probably because he grew up hearing many different languges spoken all around him in Ethiopia.

rene wrote: cannelton students... did you read JK's latest book?

rene wrote: yep, you guys are loud ;-)

Mrs. Goble's class wrote: Mr. Rene, wow! Hoi! Did you hear our cheer to see you here also? :-)

jk wrote: My brother is fluent in Amharic, which is one of the 80 different languages spoken in Ethiopia.

rene wrote: today it was raining ... right now it is totally dark.. it is 7:40 pm here

jk wrote: Hello, Rene. How's the weather in Holland right now?

Mrs. Goble's class wrote: We all want to know...what other language does your brother know?

rene wrote: hello to you all from Holland

jk wrote: Gary, I'm sure I like to write books because I love to read books. I never thought about being an author when I was a kid because I had never met any authors. But I did love books. And I still do.

jk wrote: Yes, he is. Christopher is 8 years younger than I am. You can see pictures of him on my web page. He and I wrote ONLY A PIGEON together and now WATER HOLE WAITING. He teaches ESL in Portland, Oregon.

Mrs. Goble's class wrote: and...Gary wants to know...why do you like to write books?

Mrs. G's class wrote: Beth wants to know....is Christopher Kurtz your brother?

jk wrote: That's good. Ask away.

Mrs. Goble and class wrote: We have many questions for you.

jk wrote: Good. I think I see how to do it. I'm happy that we're in touch.

Mrs. Goble and class wrote: You must click Add Message each time

Goble and class wrote: We are so happy you are here!

Mrs. Goble and class wrote: Hello!

jk wrote: All right...I think I see how to do this. Every time I send, I have to press re-load and then I also have to press "Add message." I'll have to see how I see things when someone on your end responds to me.

jk wrote: Hi...I'm here and just checking to see how this will work. 

Mrs. Goble wrote: Seventeen minutes until our chat!

Mrs. Goble wrote: Testing - chat in about 45 minutes :-)

END OF 12th ANIMAL DIARIES CHAT