Public Service Announcement #6
creativity, a creating PSA, conscience as a creator, and artist showcase
Creativity virtual school visits
One of my favorite things is sharing my picture book with kids because it means they get To Make! :) Last week, I had a stretch of virtual author visits with a Tennessee school via a literacy leader who’s been a special collaborator last year and this. Not only did I get to share the book and creative process with them, but 1st through 5th graders put “gather, make, wait” in action with a creativtree!
They wrote what they like to make on their leaves—or another part of their identity as a maker. I see pizza, kindness, artist, toys, drawings, cake, art, puppets, PEACE!, crystals, a song, cupcakes, stories, food and art, grow a mushroom! Love them all!
And the older kids wrote similes!
Writing is like _____________________________
Some more—
Writing is like: an ocean, someone holding your hand, riding a hoverboard, learning a new sport, gather-make-wait, taking a train, the first day of school, meditating.
I could weep reading them!
Okay, what is writing like for you? Is it one of these? Please share in the comments!
And if you or anyone you know would like to have me present to a school virtually (or in person!), please check out my author visit page and get in touch—I’d be honored. (I do professional development as well.)
PSA: Trust you have something to share
The heart of my school visits is telling children the theme of To Make: “Keep making.” I wrote it to tell myself that when I needed to hear it (still do!) and now get to encourage readers. Because as the last spread reveals: “…one day you will share something wonderful that only you know how to make.”
Art from To Make by Mags DeRoma.
That’s my PSA! Kids all have a totally unique voice and identity, and so do you. You bring that to your art and making. And it matters.
One way I’ve had to challenge myself to believe this lately is by working on a memoir in verse. Yup, memoir! I never thought I’d dare to write something so personal, but it became a drive I couldn’t contain. Do I trust I have something to share? Not exactly. But I have to. Or else I don’t believe what I preach, do what I say.
First, a friend and I traded bits of our timid personal projects to tell each other: “Keep making” these tender sentences. And in my last couple of revisions in which I took it apart, started over, and put it back together, I finally got confident that whether it’s comfortable for me or not, I’m pursuing this.
Another friend describes the creative life as a “faith walk.” I’m taking one step at a time, trusting that someone at the end of the path will feel an echo of truth, that it’ll help them too.
Creativity + conscience
This image was created by The Curious Nomad. I heard this Mister Rogers quote when listening to When You Wonder, You’re Learning and used it in my “Here’s the kind of response I would’ve liked from SCBWI post”on Instagram. I reached out to Sana to see if she would like to create art for it because I had a feeling she’d be the perfect artist to interpret and make it sing. She did, and I’m so honored to collaborate with her!
Sana brought the quote to life conveying both sweet gentleness as well as the sun-filled energy of building a new world.
Let us all use our alphabets, our words, to describe a sunrise, a dawn, a beginning—one with beauty and love.
Sana’s bio: When she was 11, Sana AlFalasi started writing and illustrating her own stories, and that dream has been with her ever since. She has been a collector of picture books for many years and eventually opened her online bookshop, 'The Curious Nomad,’ in 2018. Inspired by nature, children's imagination, science fiction, folktales, mythical creatures and miniature worlds, Sana likes to add an element of whimsy into her illustrations by using both traditional and digital tools. When she is not making art, Sana homeschools her son whom she loves to travel the world with to learn about different cultures. See more of her work in IG.
I recommend the title I mentioned for anyone with a child or children in their life. It’s about how to nurture creativity like Mister Rogers did, helping kids follow their curiosity so that when they learn letters and more, they’ll use them to describe the healing light of our sun coming up.
I also love this tool for empowering every adult-child interaction from Simple Interactions that the authors reference; available to download for free. How cool is that?
Speaking of conscience, creativity… and picture books!
Brilliantly talented Hatem Aly created the powerful images for our collective letter to SCBWI and follow-up to the kidlit community. You’re invited to sign up for the Story Sunbirds: A Kidlit Collective for All newsletter to find out what’s beyond SCBWI right here! We are building something we hope will stand for children and be part of a better world for our beloved community of authors, artists, readers, editors, publishers, agents, and marketers—with our precious global readership at its heart.
In gratitude, I wanted to showcase his work by way of two picture books.
Ramadan Kareem, written by M.O. Yuksel came out in February and is a perfect Ramadan read. I haven’t gotten my hands on it yet, but know it’s a wonderful follow-up to In My Mosque from a stellar team. Their first book is a celebration of place, safe and loving community, and faith. “In my mosque we pray for peace, love, joy…just like my friends who worship in churches, temples, and synagogues. You are welcome in my mosque..”
The Book that Almost Rhymed, written by Omar Abed comes out this month. It’s a charmer that conveys the magic of creativity and collaboration. A knight is writing their solo adventure when little sis comes along to foil it. The main character’s blood may boil, but is his sister really going to spoil it? Might it make the journey a royal dose of fun? This one makes poetry and siblinghood shine.
Finally, here are some fave illustrations I grabbed from Hatem’s website.
Paid subscriber upgrades go toward art supplies this time!
If you’re a subscriber who’d like to upgrade this month, your contribution will go entirely to purchasing art supplies for two events I’ve got scheduled this spring at which I’ll be crafting with kids and families.
One is the Innovation Festival through Torrance School District. The other is with the wonderful LA nonprofit, Ready, Set, Read, who I’ve been connected to for a couple of years now.
Any subscriptions will go directly, completely toward materials for a very special maker ribbon craft!
I am grateful for your support of this writer and these events. And if you can’t upgrade, no worries about that either!
Thank you for spending this time with me and for reading! I hope it served you as moments well spent. And please do tell a friend, leave a comment, or stay tuned for the next PSA from Danielle Davis.
I used TO MAKE last week at Storytime but it was a bit wild and I forgot to take photos! We did make something though - paper birds to personalize and fly while continuing with bird-themed books. They loved seeing kids making things on their own in your book!