Polly Diamond and the Magic Book: Blog Tour Guest Post by author Alice Kuipers

This month sees the release of Alice Kuipers' newest children's book

Polly Diamond and the Magic Book

 Written by Alice Kuipers
Illustrated by Diana Toledano
Chronicle Books
978-1-4521-5232-5
120 pp.
Ages 6-9
May 2018

and

CanLit for LittleCanadians 

is pleased to be participating in the Blog Tour for the book's release

Today's guest post blog is from
author Alice Kuipers 
who shares with readers
about a free online course
she has created for children to get them writing.
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Welcome Alice Kuipers!

Thank you for having me here today! I love all your book suggestions and you always give me great ideas for books to share with my kids.

In my new book, Polly Diamond and the Magic Book, my main character loves to write. This got me thinking about making a course for young writers, one that they could do with their parents or on their own online. I filled the course with PDFs and downloadable movies, and hopefully lots of inspiration for up-and-coming writers to get their words on the page. Here’s a peek at one of the steps on Character, that I thought I could share with you today.


Your CHARACTERS are the people in your stories and poems. Here’s Polly Diamond!

Other characters in the book are her mom, her dad, and her sister Anna, who Polly turns into a BANANA!

As a super-star writer, you’re going to need to get to know your characters really well. And I’m going to show you how to do that!

I loved making the course—turns out I could talk and think about writing books all day long. I have a black piece of fabric from Fabricland here in my house which I hung up behind me (very high tech at this end!), so that the video content would be easy to watch, and tried to make the course as energetic and fun as possible. I thought of as many writing prompts as I could. Getting my four children to help out, I tested some of the ideas on them (mainly on the older two, who are eight and six, although my five year old surprised me with his storytelling!), and then, I sent everything over to Children’s Book Insider. I’ve been working with them for a number of years, and I’m the teacher for two of their courses: Chapter Book Blueprint, and Middle Grade and YA Blueprint. They put everything together and the FREE course for Super Star Writers is ready to go.

Sometimes, it’s easy to underestimate how brilliant kids are at telling stories—we have an innate ability, I think, to connect to stories, and I know from my work in classrooms and from hanging out with my own children that when I give just a few tips and hints, kids just love to make stories come alive (kind of how Polly makes stories ACTUALLY come alive in her magic book!)

Hopefully you and your children (or your class) enjoy the course—please let me know what I need to change or add to make it even more fun for the young writers in your life. And for those of you who enjoyed getting to know your characters, here are the first ten questions from the character worksheet for you to enjoy with the kids in your life.

GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CHARACTER

You can try this with one character or with ALL of the characters in your stories!

Draw a picture of your character—like the picture of Polly Diamond!

Imagine you can sit down with your character and ask him or her questions.

Write the answers YOUR CHARACTER would say. For example, if I was interviewing Polly Diamond, I'd ask: “What is your name?” And she would answer, “My name is Polly Diamond.”

Question 1: What is your name?

Question 2: How old are you?

Question 3: What is your favorite thing to do?

Question 4: What do you do when you first wake up?

Question 5: What do you love to eat?

Question 6: Do you go to school? If yes, what grade are you in?

Question 7: Do you have any brothers or sisters? Can you describe them if you do?

Question 8: Tell me about your best friend.

Question 9: Do you have a secret?

Question 10: Have you ever been in trouble?

Here’s the link to the rest of the course:

https://writingblueprints.com/p/writing-course-ages-6-10/

Thank you so much for letting me share my ideas about writing with you.

Alice Kuipers

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Many thanks 

to Alice Kuipers for introducing young readers

and their teachers and families

 to her new online writing course for children

and 

to her publicist Susan Busse for arranging for this stop on the blog tour.

CanLit for LittleCanadians is always pleased to host Alice Kuipers 

whose books continue to inspire young Canadian readers 

and now get them writing too!

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Be sure to check out the other stops on Alice Kuipers' blog tour for Polly Diamond and the Magic Book:

May 3: Book Time

May 4: The Feedback Society

May 7: Yoyomama

May 8: Library of Pacific Tranquility

May 9:  Stuff to Do With Your Kids

May 10: Glimpse Reviews

May 11: Savvy Mom

May 12: Our Collective Muse 

Polly Diamond and the Magic Book

Written by Alice Kuipers

Illustrated by Diana Toledano

Chronicle Books

978-104521-5232-5

120 pp.

Ages 6-9

May 2018

Readers have always known that there is magic in the pages of books and the written word.  But little Polly Diamond, a positive and optimistic child with more joie de vivre than anyone since Pollyanna, finds a magic there like no other.

With the family anticipating a new baby, Polly will be moving into her little sister Sarah's bedroom.   To help ease the transition, Polly is gifted a turquoise book inscribed with "A Writing and Spelling Book for Polly Diamond" on the inside. To say that Polly is excited about this gift would be an understatement.

From Polly Diamond and the Magic Book by Alice Kuipers, illus. by Diana Toledano

But even more special is the magic with which the book is infused.  When Polly begins writing in it, the book writes back, speaking to her about its name, her baby brother and ultimately directing her in the process of writing a story.  And as Polly writes, the book makes it happen, like helping her paint the walls of the bedroom or making her invisible.  Polly is delighted to learn that anything she imagines can become real if she writes it down.  But, as the classic adage goes about being careful what you wish for, Polly learns that her imagination and her word choice must be harnessed especially as her book reads everything literally and not as Polly always intends.

From Polly Diamond and the Magic Book by Alice Kuipers, illus. by Diana Toledano

Suffice it to say that, after a number of whimsical calamities, Polly Diamond and the Magic Book still resolves with many happy endings including the arrival of Polly's new baby brother and Polly's naming of her book with a multifaceted title that demonstrates word power in yet another form.

Saskatchewan writer Alice Kuipers continues to impress with the breadth of her writing which spans from picture books and early readers to her forte, young adult novels. (See my reviews of Me (and) Me, The Death of Us, and 40 Things I Want to Tell You.)  All books inspire readers to be imaginative and answer the classic "What if?" directive of writing.  In Polly Diamond and the Magic Book, the question of "What if that which you wrote in a book could magically become real?" is asked and answered with playfulness, joy and affable mishap. Young readers will snicker as Anna is transformed into a tutu-wearing banana, the Aquarium Blue paint converts the walls to a living fishbowl, and the staircase is made of musical note steps.  The story is rich with imagery (and darling images courtesy of Spain's Diana Toledano) and the fantastic and, though things do awry, because sometimes your imagination can run a little wild (!), Polly Diamond and the Magic Book is an uplifting early reader that encourages creative writing and the spiritedness of words.  It's Super-Polly-tastic!

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Check out Alice Kuipers' Guest Post tomorrow
 here at CanLit for LittleCanadians

as part of the

Blog Tour
for Polly Diamond and the Magic Book 
 

Polly Diamond and the Magic Book: Book launch (Saskatoon, SK)

A tea party and a book launch!

Author

 Alice Kuipers

is launching her new

illustrated chapter book

Polly Diamond and the Magic Book

Written by Alice Kuipers

Illustrated by Diana Toledano

Chronicle Books

978-1-4521-5232-5

120 pp.

Ages 6-9

May 2018

on

 Sunday, April 22, 2018 

 2:30 p.m.

at

McNally Robinson

3130-8 St E.

Saskatoon, SK

This family and kid-friendly event 

will include 

activities for kids

and

refreshments from Prairie Ink Restaurant and Bakery.

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I have read this darling book about imagination, writing, word play and magic and will review it on May 1, 2018.  The following day, author Alice Kuipers has kindly offered to share a guest post about children writing, having created an free online course (available May 1) on her website for children who want to learn to write or to become better writers.

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Before that review comes out, here is a bit about the book from the publisher's website:

Polly loves words. And she loves writing stories. So when a magic book appears on her doorstep that can make everything she writes happen in real life, Polly is certain all of her dreams are about to come true. But she soon learns that what you write and what you mean are not always the same thing! Funny and touching, this new chapter book series will entertain readers and inspire budding writers.

Retrieved from

 https://www.chroniclebooks.com/titles/polly-diamond-and-the-magic-book.html on April 15, 2018.