ADVANCE NOTICE. SAMURAI KIDS BLOG TOUR

Welcome friends all!

I’ll be chatting with Sandy Fussell about the background and setting of her new book Samurai Kids: Monkey Fist on Wednesday, 5 August as part of her blog tour to celebrate the release of Monkey Fist, the fourth in her Samurai Kids series. [You will find detail of the blog tour schedule at the end of this blog.]

Thinking it prudent to find out something of the ‘who’, ‘where’, ‘what’ issues behind this series, I hurried to my local library and borrowed the first three in the Samurai Kids series - White Crane, Owl Ninja and Shaolin Tiger.

A delighful surprise awaited me! I found myself immersed in the world of Samurai in a refreshing and unexpected way. I sat for a while in the ‘School of Cockroaches ‘(Cockroach Ryu) under the wise tutelege of the Sensei Ki-Yaga.

‘Many years ago,’ he tells them, ‘in the early mists of the mountaim Ryujin, the dragon went walking. A dragon has scales of steel but his feet are soft. It trod on a thorn. The great creature roared in pain. Huge claws could not remove something so small.
‘Wind carried Ryujin’s cries deep into the Earth, but the other animals closed their ears. No-one wanted to help the cruel, boastful dragon. Only Gokiburi, the cockroach came to help. The cockroach was kind and wise “I will help you because no creature is so great it stands alone. Even a proud dragon must sometimes bend to a cockroach,” it said.
‘The dragon bowed and the cockroach removed the thorn.
‘So you see, Little Cockroaches, when the time comes, you will find power over the dragon. Bad breath and big feet are not to be feared.'


Sensei Ki-Yaga is preparing his most unlikely students for a great battle to come. There is one-legged Niya who tells the story; Kyoko, the albino girl; Mikko a one-armed boy; the blind boy, Taji. Yoshi who is doesn’t quite know who he is; and, Nezume, the last one. Not one of them alone can meet the challenges they will face, but as a unit, not only do they discover their strength and learn skills from various martial arts disciplines, they enjoy great adventure. These threads link the books of the series - and yet allow each to stand alone in an inspiring read.

Be sure to join the blog tour of Samurai Kids: Monkey Fist that begins on Saturday August 1, 2009 - and I’ll be back with more right here on Wednesday August 5.



Tour Schedule:

Date Host Location
1 Aug Dee White http://tips4youngwriters.wordpress.com/
2 Aug Dale Harcombe http://www.livejournal.com/users/orangedale
3 Aug Claire Saxby http://www.letshavewords.blogspot.com/
4 Aug Sally Odgers http://spinningpearls.blogspot.com/
5 Aug Mabel Kaplan http://belka37.blogspot.com/ [That's right here]
6 Aug Sally Murphy http://sallymurphy.blogspot.com/
7 Aug Robyn Opie http://www.robynopie.blogspot.com/
8 Aug Rebecca Newman http://www.soupblog.wordpress.com/
9 Aug Susan Stephenson http://thebookchook.blogspot.com/

THE GOANNA ISLAND BLOG TOUR

The Goanna Island Mystery
written by Dale Harcombe, illustrated by Dillon Naylor, published by Aussie School Books Pty Ltd 2008

Synopsis:
Across the sandbar from the mainland lies Goanna Island. Legend has it that the ghost of a pirate haunts this tiny island. But Leo, new boy to the area, doesn’t really believe in ghosts, that is, until he is challenged by Mark, the local school bully, to visit the place alone. A pale face peering at him from a window of the old house with a tin roof, piques Leo’s curiosity. The bully is forgotten as Leo musters all his cunning and courage to uncover the truth of the mystery of the island - and the even more important truth that the Marks of his world have forever lost their power over him.

Good Morning Dale!
Welcome to this third stopover on your blog tour of ‘The Goanna Island Mystery’
Thank you Mabel, I am delighted to be here.

When I read 'The Goanna Island Mystery' it occurred to me themes play an important role in holding a story together … so today I'd like to focus on the themes that filter through your stories. But let me begin with the more general question: How would you describe a theme and what role do themes play in a story.

Dale: The theme is the underlying idea behind the book.

Tell me about the themes in 'The Goanna Island Mystery'.

Dale: There are several themes in 'The Goanna Island Mystery'. One of them was fear and overcoming fear. One is bullying and the loneliness some kids feel without friends or because of changed family circumstances. Another is dealing with loss.

For you, is the choice of theme/s apparent from the moment you begin to think about the story or do theme emerge from the writing process itself.

Dale: I don't know that I'd thought about the themes when I started to write the story. Sometimes they only become apparent afterwards or as the story unfolds and I see where it takes me.

You have written a number of books. To what extent can you identify recurring themes that run through much of your writing?

Dale: As I think about what I've written, both published and unpublished to this point, I think I tend to see the recurring themes of the child or adult who doesn't fit in - or is a bit different in some way. I find I tend to use creative people like artists and musicians etc a lot in my work , perhaps for that reason. Dealing with loss comes in quite a bit and also dealing with fear is another theme as it is something we all have in various forms whether that fear is of the water, the unknown as in 'The Goanna Island Mystery', of spiders and things that creep and crawl as in 'Red Alert'! or fear of rejection and ridicule.

Mm! I noted Ebenezer who becomes a kind of mentor or substitute parent to Leo (your main character) is an artist. Describe, if you can, an ‘aha’ moment you've experienced as you reread a published book and uncovered a theme OR had a reader/reviewer reveal something you had not previously noticed was there.

Dale: In 'Pick Me', a story I wrote that was published in School Magazine, a fellow writer commented on how clever and appropriate the name of the character was because all his life the boy wanted a dog. But then he had to find exactly the right one. The boy’s name was Hunter. I didn't think about it as wrote it. Only that it felt like the right name. In ‘The Goanna Island Mystery’ Leo was the perfect name for brave boy overcoming his fear. It brings images of Leo the lion. And lions are strong and the kings of the jungle. Of course, knowing me, I probably also had images of the courage of Leo who took the pack mark and helped Sydney Swans win the 2005 Grand final as well.

Is there a question you wished I’d asked but didn’t?

Dale: Can't think of one, Mabel, Thanks for asking the questions you did. It made me think about some things I hadn't thought about before - like theme.

It's been good to have you here, Dale. I hope you will drop in again for a chat. I'll look forward to following you on the rest of your blog tour.

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I now invite you to join children's author, Dale Harcombe in her journey and discussions of her book: 'The Goanna Island Mystery' on other blog sites. Don't forget to leave a comment on each site. Bloggers like to know you've visited their site.

Here is Dale's itinerary:
Mon 25 Dee White at http://tips4youngwriters.wordpress.com/
Tue 26 Sally Murphy at http://aussiereviews.blogspot.com/
Wed 27 Mabel Kaplan at http://belka37.blogspot.com/[That’s right here!]
Thu 28 Claire Saxby at http://www.letshavewords.blogspot.com/
Fri 29 Sandy Fussell at http://www.sandyfussell.blogspot.com/

Mon 1 June Sally Odgers http://spinningpearls.blogspot.com

You can also catch up with Dale on her own sites:
http://www.daleharcombe.com/
Write and read with Dale http://livejournal.com/users/orangedale/

Thank you all for checking in!

WHAT STORIES DO YOU TELL YOUR CHILDREN

Story tellers All!
A Cautionary Tale: Watch what stories you tell your children.

For those of you working with story in community, I recently came upon an interesting study on how the themes emerging in family stories changed according to which parent was doing the telling and the gender of the child being told. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2294/is_2000_Sept/ai_71118807/]

Story telling as a family activity provides a window into important themes of group membership such as intimacy, power, and individual responsibility. As an activity, family stories are an opportunity to share family values and lessons in growing up and aids in the construction of meaning and understanding of the social world.

Parents were asked to tell their son or daughter stories about when the parent was growing up. Stories were coded for the strength of affiliation, achievement, and autonomy themes. Fathers told stories with stronger autonomy themes than did mothers, and sons were more likely to hear stories with themes of autonomy than were daughters. An interaction was found between gender type of parent and gender of child for strength of achievement theme. Family stories are one aspect of socialization that includes an interaction between child and parent characteristics.

It is interesting to note that the study also suggested that, through narratives, mothers may socialize emotion differently to boys and girls. In recounting past events, mothers were more likely to tell stories of anger to their sons and stories of sadness to their daughters A general finding suggests females tend to frame experiences along lines of affiliative themes and males tend to frame experiences along lines of achievement. Themes of affiliation and achievement play an important part in the development of personal identity.

This study focused on how the way parent's tell their children family stories may be one avenue for the socialization of achievement and affiliation.

THEME, CHARACTER AND PLOT

Next Wednesday May 27, as part of her blog tour to promote her newly
released children’s chapter book: The Goanna Island Mystery published
by Aussie School Books, I will be talking with Dale Harcombe right here about the themes that carry the story.

I invite you to join Dale in her journey and discussions of The Goanna Island Mystery on these blogspots:
Mon 25 Dee White at http://tips4youngwriters.wordpress.com
Tue 26 Sally Murphy at http://aussiereviews.blogspot.com/
Wed 27 Mabel Kaplan at http://belka37.blogspot.com [That’s right here!]
Thu 28 Claire Saxby at www.letshavewords.blogspot.com
Fri 29 Sandy Fussell at www.sandyfussell.blogspot.com

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The notion of themes in fiction writing is one I find very interesting. So I question myself, as I will Dale, what do I mean by themes and what role do themes play in a story.

It is easy to underestimate the value of themes - and think of them in the somewhat nebulous way of textbook English as the ‘big ideas’ - and leave them to find their own way in the story. But what if the theme then gets lost in the excitement and action of the plot? A great opportunity is lost! A theme is what underlies and supports the story idea. It is what gives the story the depth that keeps the reader engaged. It is in essence what the characters in the story tell us about the human condition.

What is needed is a strong marriage between character and theme. Rather than a story about courage, the story is about character who demonstrates what being courageous is. It shows the situations in which X finds him/herself behaving in a courageous manner, what motivates him/her. It allows the writer and reader to predict the character's reactions to particular events and how these drive the story.

Imagine a hard working family who become unexpectantly rich when an old aunt dies. A nephew uses his share of the money to help his neighbours; a niece uses her share to gamble for greater riches - and, we have a story driven by the themes of generosity and greed.

The themes keep the story on track and determine what is important to the story and what can be left out. The story becomes less about generosity or greed and more about a character who is generous and a character who is greedy. Thus, the characters, their actions and reactions, and plot will be moved forward by the themes. Behind the excitement of the action and the charisma of the characters, good stories carry a layer which explores what it is to be human.

If next time you sit down with a book, you think about what is at stake for the characters as they face each situation, not only will you have enriched your understanding of the story, but you will have gained insight into the author's view of the human condition

Sorcha Ni Dhomhnaill [http://www.helium.com/items/1330835-theme-in-fiction] in an article on the Role of Theme in Fiction writes: Theme is usually the particular situation the author wanted to write about that formed the beginning kernel of the story. Nearly every word you read in a story will work in some way to expand the theme, usually without mentioning it explicitly. Some level of ambiguity in the presentation of a theme is preferred because authors do not want fictional situations to read like a philosophical tract or a debate, only to illustrate its consequences on the story and characters.

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