Local authors give St. Louis kids writing tips

Some local school kids are getting personal tips on writing from a husband-and-wife author team. St. Louisans Fred and Patricia McKissack have published over 100 kids books, many of them prize-winners.

Late this month, the kids will meet again with the McKissacks via closed-circuit video. In December, the McKissacks visited with them in a video-conference and gave them writing assignments.

The McKissacks asked them to write about one of the holidays celebrated during December. They could write about Christmas. But, Pat McKissack suggested they also look at December holidays celebrated by Jews, Arabs, African-Americans or Chinese.

Thirteen-year-old Kiersten Peltier said she's going to write a poem about Christmas. "I've been reading books by the McKissacks since I was in nursery school. They inspired me to write poetry," the eighth grader said.

However, she said she won't be around for the next video-conference. She and her family will be moving soon to Louisiana. "I'm going to write my poem and leave it with my teacher for the next conference," she said.

Fellow eighth-grader Amina Larara said she's going to write about Ramadan. She's a Muslim and Ramadan is the Muslims' month-long religious holiday.

She said a major feature of Ramadan is daily fasting, from sunup to sundown. "Then, at the end of the month, we have a big feast and buy new clothes," the 13-year-old said.

Thirteen-year-old Tamecia Woods said she's going to write about the Chinese New Year. "I don't know anything about that holiday. That makes me want to learn more about another culture," the eighth grader said.

The McKissacks used one of their books to introduce the subject of writing to seventh and eighth graders at Brittany Woods Middle School. The book is "Christmas at the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters."

Young Saint Louis.com published a review of that book in its December edition. To read about the book, just click here.

Earlier, the McKissacks used two other books of theirs to introduce writing to second and third graders from Jackson Park Elementary School. Those books were "Messy Bessey" and "Messy Bessey's Holidays."

The younger kids' assignment also included writing about a December holiday, either in paragraph form or as a poem.

The "Messy Bessey" books were written in poetry form. The McKissacks explained about how to make the lines of a poem rhyme.

They gave the kids the first three lines of a poem and asked them to make up the fourth line. The kids were to make the last line rhyme with the second line. The first three lines were:

The car is packed It's time to go. We're on our way

Some of the kids' suggestions for the fourth line were:

     We're late for the show.....The gas is low.....Don't say no....and Don't forget to say good-bye to Joe.

The McKissacks also outlined various parts that make up a story. Those included characters, action, setting and a story idea.

For the older kids, the McKissacks explained how they researched the "Christmas at the Big House" book. That involved traveling to Virginia to study how Christmases were celebrated by the plantation owners in the "big house" and the slaves in the "quarters."

Their book tells the story of Christmas in 1859, just before the start of the Civil War which ended slavery.

Pat McKissack said their research turned up lots of important things for the book. But, she said they also found out how the food, "hush puppies," got their name.

She said the slaves cooked food in a separate building. Then, kids had to carry the food from the kitchen to the main house. But, dogs on the plantation could smell the food. They would jump up on the kids trying to get at the food.

Pat McKissack said, "The cooks would take corn and cook it with animal fat. Then, when the kids went to the main house, they would throw the cooked corn on the ground for the dogs. They would yell, 'hush, puppies, hush.'"

She told the kids about one of the early books she wrote, It was about one of her childhood heroes, the poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar. She was teaching in Kirkwood at the time.

She said she was proud of the book. But, she added, "My students told me it was boring," After re-reading it, she had to agree. She said the book was full of facts but "I hadn't told a good story."

Making sure you tell a good story is the most important thing about writing a good book, she said.