Yesterday I got my ICL newsletter. (What’s that you ask?A wonderful little FREE newsletter full of tips and fun. Go here to get yours.) And I followed a link to the ICL bulletin boards where they are having a fun little contest.( Write up the opening of a classic as if it were a rhyming picture book.)

One of the gals entering the contest was really funny and really talented (not to say they weren’t all talented, just this women really hooked me) so I went over to her blog to read more of her stuff. Wow! She writes the blog with a friend and, “my, oh my,” they are good. Check ‘em out.

I’m jamming, trying to get an application in to the SCBWI WIP grants dealy. I have to mail it by tomorrow to get it there in time. So I’m just going to throw up a couple of links today and save the discussion about high concept for another day.

First link:

I love what The Writer magazine is up to. They have really worked hard to set a great web site. I don’t know anyone that works there so I’m don’t have any ulterior motive here. The thing is, this is a magazine who is doing it right, in my opinion. They are embracing technology. They are going online. They are offering quality help to writers. I LOVE this idea. I don’t want paper magazines anymore. I want it online. I want it on my iPad (which I don’t have yet, but which I’m confident that I will have after I hint and hint about it before my birthday this year ).

Well now we can all get a sneak peak at what The Writer offers subscribers. It’s like getting a free issue. From March 19-26, 2010 they’re opening up the site to everyone. Go check it out.

Second link:

Contest! I love contests for several reasons.

• They give me a deadline and force me to jam some work out.
• They force me to plan my stories and write synopses.
• They give me an opportunity to get feedback from professionals.
• They are just great fun—like playing games with your brothers and sisters at Thanksgiving. Everyone has fun, everyone is happy for the winners, everyone enjoys the friendly competition. (Well, in a perfect world, I guess. The truth is, though, that I have fun, I am happy for the winners, and I enjoy the friendly competition. And it’s all about me, so who cares what the other people are doing. )

So here is the latest cool contest:

• Katherine Paterson Prize for YA
• deadline=June 30, 2010
• entry fee=20$
• judge=Holly Black

I don’t know if I’ll have time. But I sure am tempted to give this one a shot.

I really want one. I really, really want one.

And the new books are going to be really cool. Really, really cool.

Today I read a delightful picture book about William Bentley.

Snowflake Bentley, written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin, and illustrated by Mary Azarian, was published by Houghton Mifflin and it won Caldecott Medal in 1999.

And the pictures are very good. I’m not surprised it won the Caldecott. The pictures—the cover and the way the pictures inside were framed—are what drew me in and made me pick up the book.

But the writing is the thing I loved best once I actually dove into the book.

I liked the way it was written…

From the first page:

In the days when farmers worked with ox and sled and cut the dark with lantern light, there lived a boy who loved snow more than anything else in the world.

But I also liked what the book said about so many things…

About children pursuing their dreams when other think they’re a little…well, let’s just say, strange. About parents sacrificing to encourage their children and help them succeed. About a love for nature and art that overrides worries over what your neighbors think of you. And about a love of beauty and a longing to share it.

Considering we just had huge flakes falling a week ago—yes, all the way down here in Atlanta we had snow in March!—I thought this was a great book to look at. Give it a gander, it’s well worth the time.

For more great nonfiction books, head over to Lost Between the Pages.

This week I read A Beach Tale, written by Karen Lynn Williams and illustrated by Floyd Cooper and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

A Beach Tale is a sweet father/son story.

A loving father gives his son instruction, but then allows the boy the freedom to obey. The son obeys and that, in part, allows him to find his way back to his father when he thinks he is lost. The concept was fresh and the story was well executed with lyrical text and with repetition coming in after each new discovery, to keep us grounded and remembering the father’s instruction.

I am amazed that with so few words, this author could tell us so many things. She told us about movement—about zigging and zagging and winding around things. And she told us about remembering a father’s authority and about the rewards of wisely obeying. It’s not a preachy tale, but it has a deep current running underneath the narrative.

I loved the pictures in this book, also. Done in chalk, they have a grainy feel that matches the beach. I loved the boy’s face, the water crashing over the rocks, the clouds in the sky, the color of the ocean…oh, this is simply a wonderful, wonderful book.