Writer Pam Muñoz Ryan has some great ideas to tell us about

We were talking about really great books and a real writer wrote back to me. Her name is Pam Muñoz Ryan and she has written many wonderful books including Esperanza Rising that is on the booklist mom helped me to make. Here is what she had to say...

Why do you think it is a good idea for kids to grow libraries?

Growing a library is as important as growing a garden. There is no limit to the harvest. After you finish a book, you are always something new, something more than what you were before.

Can you tell us about your book Esperanza Rising that won the Pura Belpré? How did you get the idea?

ESPERANZA RISING is a story that parallels my grandmother's immigration journey from Aguascalientes, Mexico to the San Joaquin Valley of California in 1930.

What made you want to write children's books and do you have any tips for kids who want to be writers?

I became a professional writer because of my love of books and my desire to have a vocation that had something to do with books. At first, I thought that would be teaching, but I discovered later on, that it was writing to which I was drawn.

I don't think that all children should necessarily want to be professional writers. That would be like saying that all children should want to be dentists or plumbers or computer programmers. But I do think that all children should learn to write well, because no matter what they choose to do in their lives, they will need to communicate by writing.

Pam sent my Dad one of her latest books called the Dreamer. It is a story of a boy from Chile, who she says traveled a challenging road that led him to become the most read poet in the world. The name of this poet is Pablo Neruda. Have you ever heard of him? My mom read me some of his poems and I have to say they are very beautiful. If you listen to them quietly you will get ideas for pictures.

With my parents I went to Pam's website and you can too by clicking right here on this link:
http://www.pammunozryan.com/index.html

She listed some great links there for kids who want to be writers and my teacher Mrs. Lau liked them so much she put them on our class blog. You should talk about them at your school too.
Check out the following web sites:

Where can a young writer get published???
http://www.aprilwayland.com/students_pub.htm

Beth Brust's Ten Truths about Writing
http://www.tmisnet.com/~bethbrust/tentruth.html

Aaron Shepard's Young Authors Page
http://aaronshep.com/youngauthor/index.html

Ralph Fletcher's Tips for Young Writers
http://www.ralphfletcher.com/TfYw.html

StoneSoup.com for young writers and artists
http://www.stonesoup.com/main2/printmagazines.html

Thank you Pam for telling us all about this and for writing back to us.