Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Virtual Book Tour: Day 12

For today’s stop on the tour, we made another visit to Brown Sugar & Spice. For those of you who are visiting my tour for the very first time today, this wonderful bookstore specializes in Black History books for children and families. Be sure to bookmark this site as the place to go to purchase top-quality books with a value! Here's the video that was originally posted on that site:



Just for Kids:
A lot of kids want to know where I get my ideas to write about. I’ll tell you a secret—I have a special place where I keep my ideas! Ideas come at such strange moments. I might be brushing my teeth. I might be eating dinner at a restaurant with my friends. I might be walking into the mall. So when I get an idea, I grab a piece of paper and—quick! I write it down before it gets away from me. (And yes, I always carry a pen and a piece of paper wherever I go.) Then, when I get home, I go to my special place and put that piece of paper in there with all my other ideas. That’s so that next time, when someone asks me to write a story, and I don’t know what to say, I just go to my special place and pull out all my ideas. Right away I find an idea that interests me and that I’d like to write about. My special place is a file folder in my desk drawer right next to where I sit every day and write. On the file folder in big, pink letters it says: IDEAS! You can make a special place to keep your ideas, too. Get a file box and put some index cards inside. Decorate the outside with stickers and designs. Then put the box in a special place. If you get an idea about something you like, run and get the box. Quick! Write your idea down on an index card and put it back in the box. The next time your teacher or someone asks you to write a story, go to your special place. Get out your idea box. Look through your list of ideas until you find something you really, really want to write about. Then have fun writing your story!

Yesterday’s Trivia Q and A:
Yesterday’s question was:
Which state was the first to officially abolish slavery within its borders?
a. Virginia
b. New York
c. Vermont
The answer is: c. Vermont. In 1777, Vermont became the first state to officially bring an end to slavery within its borders. One by one, other states in the North followed Vermont’s example.

Today’s Trivia Question:
About how many Black cowboys rode the Chisholm Trail during the late 1800s?
a. 50
b. 500
c. 5000
Submit your answer by posting it as a comment to today’s blog. It won’t be published on the blog, but your name will be put in a hat to be drawn for 5 prizes to give away at the end of the tour. Check back in tomorrow for the answer!

Coming tomorrow:
On Day 13 of my Virtual Book Tour, we’ll be learning more about the illustration process the original manuscript of D is for Drinking Gourd went through to become the beautiful picture book it is today!

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