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RE: King For A Day
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From: Rukhsana Khan <rukhsana_at_rukhsanakhan.com>
Date: Sun, 24 Aug 2014 20:49:18 -0400
Mayra Negron wrote “One part that came out of the conversation with the students was how did Malik make it up the stairs if he needed a wheelchair. Of course, the students came up with several answers: his friends helped him up or there was a ramp we couldn't see in the pictures. Other things came up, such as the bully and the girl at the end of the story, but overall the students had positive remarks about the story.
Will Not Guilty be available in the US? If so, can you let us know? I would like to read the poem.”
Hi Mayra,
This comes down to the differences between the story King of the Skies and King for a Day. In the original I did mention that he drags himself up two flights of stairs to a chair that waits for him ‘like a throne ready for its king’. And I mentioned a bit more of the preparation that Malik undergoes including rubbing his kite string with ground up glass.
When I was signing the original contract, that was through Scholastic Canada, there was a clause in there indemnifying the publisher from any harm that could come about from something that happens as a result of instructions in the book, and I paused wondering if some kid decided to rub ground glass on his kite string would someone come and sue me??? But the publisher assured me that my words were okay.
In King for a Day, we by-passed a lot of that stuff. Doesn’t matter how Malik gets up to the roof, it just matters that he does get up there.
I’m not sure if Not Guilty will be available in the U.S. at this point. The publisher I sold it to is Pearson, and they make text books and academic pieces that get distributed through the school system. This is a mental health project initiative I believe that Deborah Ellis started. Many of the stories in the project are centered around bullying, racism etc.
I had written the poem Not Guilty and sent it to my agent. It made her cry.
We even had a publisher on board but for one reason or another he backed out.
I think publishers are acting very skittish these days, and with the economic situation, who can blame them?
I expanded Not Guilty into a narrative poem with mini chapters, thinking of Helen Frost as I was doing it, and when I was done I thought the narrative poem was pretty darn good, and even strong enough to stand alone as a mainstream trade publication. My husband read it and he said it had made him choke up. (That surprised me!!! We’re talking a big strong guy here!)
But I went ahead and sold it to Pearson. And they assured me if other avenues open up, I’ll be recompensed.
All the best,
Rukhsana
Rukhsana Khan
Award-winning author and storyteller
www.rukhsanakhan.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/MsRukhsanaKhan
From: Mayra Negron [mailto:mayra.negron_at_gmail.com] Sent: Sunday, August 24, 2014 1:41 PM To: Rukhsana Khan Subject: Re: [ccbc-net] King For A Day
Rukhsana,
I am a librarian at an elementary school in Milwaukee. I bought & read King for a Day to the fourth graders & did indeed have a conversation afterwards that included a day in the year where you felt the best. One part that came out of the conversation with the students was how did Malik make it up the stairs if he needed a wheelchair. Of course, the students came up with several answers: his friends helped him up or there was a ramp we couldn't see in the pictures. Other things came up, such as the bully and the girl at the end of the story, but overall the students had positive remarks about the story.
Will Not Guilty be available in the US? If so, can you let us know? I would like to read the poem.
Here is hoping you write many more,
Mayra
Mayra in Milwaukee
☮ = ♥
On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 12:23 PM, Rukhsana Khan <rukhsana_at_rukhsanakhan.com> wrote:
Helen!!!!
Of course I remember you! We had such a fascinating conversation while we gritted our teeth on that long ride over that snowy mountain pass! What an adventure! I can tell you I was scared for our lives several times!!!
Can’t get the images of the Diamond Willow poetry you wrote out of my mind.
I’ve been thinking of you! You even gave me the impetus to write my own prose poetry and I have an educational project coming out shortly that will be distributed across Canada called Not Guilty. I didn’t write it in interesting shapes, like you do, but it was in response to the Boston bombing incident.
I was doing school visits up in Ottawa and I came back to the hotel from a full day to see the monitor in the lobby showing the Boston Marathon bombing and thinking, “Oh no! Not again!”
Watched the news praying that it wasn’t Muslims who did it!
And the next morning, when I went down to breakfast I picked up the complementary newspaper and read the full story. Felt like I was fulfilling an obligation. Feeling sickened by it all, I turned to the comics, because I really didn’t want to face a group of school kids feeling depressed.
And there in the breakfast room of this hotel, one of the comic strips made me laugh out loud, and I suddenly looked up at the other hotel guests eating their breakfast. There was a T.V. monitor in the breakfast room and images of the Boston bombing scene were still playing. Everybody was staring at me because I had laughed out loud, and I felt like they were thinking I had laughed at the bombing, and then I got kind of angry and annoyed. And I thought to myself, “Why are you staring at me? I didn’t DO anything! It was them, not me, not us!” And those sentiments became the first lines in this prose poem called Not Guilty. I made him an Iraqi refugee who’s struggling to fit in, when the Boston bombing happens and he feels compelled to explain that he would never do anything like that.
Oops, sorry for going on about that.
Getting back to King for a Day, I’m SO glad you liked it! The wheelchair was definitely part of my vision of the story! You can see me talk about it in my book talk/tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO9V5zFWYbQ <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO9V5zFWYbQ&feature=youtu.be> &feature=youtu.be
And what I’ve done is put all the relevant links for each book on the appropriate book page on my website. So for King for a Day you can see all the multi-media links right here including the link to the teacher guide, the link to the 3 minute audio from teaching books.com of me talking about the story and some of the reviews and awards it’s been up for: http://www.rukhsanakhan.com/books/kingforaday.html
Basically I wrote the story with the idea of a boy who couldn’t walk, but he had one day of the year where he ruled! The day of Basant the kite festival! It’s a story about every little boy’s fantasy: power!!!
I want to thank Elsa for moderating the discussion too! I had a chance to meet Elsa at the Muslim Journeys Conference in Madison a week ago!
And lastly I want to put a question out to the group.
When K.T. first approached me to join the discussion I couldn’t help but wonder if educators wouldn’t suffer some push back from some of the parents about the inclusion of Muslim literature in the classroom.
Are any of you worried?
I mean it’s one thing to be on a listserve like this and talk about the merits of inclusive literature, but it’s another dealing in the ‘real world’ with pushy parents some of whom have some pretty ignorant attitudes.
Maybe I’ve read too many derogatory comments about Muslims on online sites, and maybe I’ve internalized some of those sentiments too much, just saying.
If this sort of topic is taboo, feel free to educate me and even chastise me on this Elsa.
It’s just that sometimes I feel like I’m writing my heart out and it’s mostly for naught because teachers will be too scared to use my books and teacher guides anyway.
All the best,
Rukhsana Khan
Award-winning author and storyteller
www.rukhsanakhan.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/MsRukhsanaKhan
From: Helen Frost [mailto:helenfrost_at_comcast.net] Sent: Saturday, August 23, 2014 6:09 PM To: ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu Subject: [ccbc-net] King For A Day
Hi Rukhsana,
Remember me? We met on that wild ride over the pass in a blizzard at night, on the way to Valdez for the Alaska Library Association conference last year. And survived the 48 inches of snow that fell during the conference ("Please walk to the conference center. The conference bus is getting dug out of the snow.") That was memorable!
I love King for a Day, and I do have a question about it. Was the wheelchair your vision when you wrote it, or did the illustrator do that of her own accord. I don't think it's mentioned in the text, which is brilliant either way.
I learned a lot and enjoyed the book very much. The bully is kept in the background, with the hero foregrounded, which makes the hero more heroic.
I'd love to hear anything you have to say about the conception and making of this beautiful book.
thanks to you, and to Elsa for moderating the conversation,
Helen Frost
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Received on Sun 24 Aug 2014 07:49:30 PM CDT
Date: Sun, 24 Aug 2014 20:49:18 -0400
Mayra Negron wrote “One part that came out of the conversation with the students was how did Malik make it up the stairs if he needed a wheelchair. Of course, the students came up with several answers: his friends helped him up or there was a ramp we couldn't see in the pictures. Other things came up, such as the bully and the girl at the end of the story, but overall the students had positive remarks about the story.
Will Not Guilty be available in the US? If so, can you let us know? I would like to read the poem.”
Hi Mayra,
This comes down to the differences between the story King of the Skies and King for a Day. In the original I did mention that he drags himself up two flights of stairs to a chair that waits for him ‘like a throne ready for its king’. And I mentioned a bit more of the preparation that Malik undergoes including rubbing his kite string with ground up glass.
When I was signing the original contract, that was through Scholastic Canada, there was a clause in there indemnifying the publisher from any harm that could come about from something that happens as a result of instructions in the book, and I paused wondering if some kid decided to rub ground glass on his kite string would someone come and sue me??? But the publisher assured me that my words were okay.
In King for a Day, we by-passed a lot of that stuff. Doesn’t matter how Malik gets up to the roof, it just matters that he does get up there.
I’m not sure if Not Guilty will be available in the U.S. at this point. The publisher I sold it to is Pearson, and they make text books and academic pieces that get distributed through the school system. This is a mental health project initiative I believe that Deborah Ellis started. Many of the stories in the project are centered around bullying, racism etc.
I had written the poem Not Guilty and sent it to my agent. It made her cry.
We even had a publisher on board but for one reason or another he backed out.
I think publishers are acting very skittish these days, and with the economic situation, who can blame them?
I expanded Not Guilty into a narrative poem with mini chapters, thinking of Helen Frost as I was doing it, and when I was done I thought the narrative poem was pretty darn good, and even strong enough to stand alone as a mainstream trade publication. My husband read it and he said it had made him choke up. (That surprised me!!! We’re talking a big strong guy here!)
But I went ahead and sold it to Pearson. And they assured me if other avenues open up, I’ll be recompensed.
All the best,
Rukhsana
Rukhsana Khan
Award-winning author and storyteller
www.rukhsanakhan.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/MsRukhsanaKhan
From: Mayra Negron [mailto:mayra.negron_at_gmail.com] Sent: Sunday, August 24, 2014 1:41 PM To: Rukhsana Khan Subject: Re: [ccbc-net] King For A Day
Rukhsana,
I am a librarian at an elementary school in Milwaukee. I bought & read King for a Day to the fourth graders & did indeed have a conversation afterwards that included a day in the year where you felt the best. One part that came out of the conversation with the students was how did Malik make it up the stairs if he needed a wheelchair. Of course, the students came up with several answers: his friends helped him up or there was a ramp we couldn't see in the pictures. Other things came up, such as the bully and the girl at the end of the story, but overall the students had positive remarks about the story.
Will Not Guilty be available in the US? If so, can you let us know? I would like to read the poem.
Here is hoping you write many more,
Mayra
Mayra in Milwaukee
☮ = ♥
On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 12:23 PM, Rukhsana Khan <rukhsana_at_rukhsanakhan.com> wrote:
Helen!!!!
Of course I remember you! We had such a fascinating conversation while we gritted our teeth on that long ride over that snowy mountain pass! What an adventure! I can tell you I was scared for our lives several times!!!
Can’t get the images of the Diamond Willow poetry you wrote out of my mind.
I’ve been thinking of you! You even gave me the impetus to write my own prose poetry and I have an educational project coming out shortly that will be distributed across Canada called Not Guilty. I didn’t write it in interesting shapes, like you do, but it was in response to the Boston bombing incident.
I was doing school visits up in Ottawa and I came back to the hotel from a full day to see the monitor in the lobby showing the Boston Marathon bombing and thinking, “Oh no! Not again!”
Watched the news praying that it wasn’t Muslims who did it!
And the next morning, when I went down to breakfast I picked up the complementary newspaper and read the full story. Felt like I was fulfilling an obligation. Feeling sickened by it all, I turned to the comics, because I really didn’t want to face a group of school kids feeling depressed.
And there in the breakfast room of this hotel, one of the comic strips made me laugh out loud, and I suddenly looked up at the other hotel guests eating their breakfast. There was a T.V. monitor in the breakfast room and images of the Boston bombing scene were still playing. Everybody was staring at me because I had laughed out loud, and I felt like they were thinking I had laughed at the bombing, and then I got kind of angry and annoyed. And I thought to myself, “Why are you staring at me? I didn’t DO anything! It was them, not me, not us!” And those sentiments became the first lines in this prose poem called Not Guilty. I made him an Iraqi refugee who’s struggling to fit in, when the Boston bombing happens and he feels compelled to explain that he would never do anything like that.
Oops, sorry for going on about that.
Getting back to King for a Day, I’m SO glad you liked it! The wheelchair was definitely part of my vision of the story! You can see me talk about it in my book talk/tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO9V5zFWYbQ <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO9V5zFWYbQ&feature=youtu.be> &feature=youtu.be
And what I’ve done is put all the relevant links for each book on the appropriate book page on my website. So for King for a Day you can see all the multi-media links right here including the link to the teacher guide, the link to the 3 minute audio from teaching books.com of me talking about the story and some of the reviews and awards it’s been up for: http://www.rukhsanakhan.com/books/kingforaday.html
Basically I wrote the story with the idea of a boy who couldn’t walk, but he had one day of the year where he ruled! The day of Basant the kite festival! It’s a story about every little boy’s fantasy: power!!!
I want to thank Elsa for moderating the discussion too! I had a chance to meet Elsa at the Muslim Journeys Conference in Madison a week ago!
And lastly I want to put a question out to the group.
When K.T. first approached me to join the discussion I couldn’t help but wonder if educators wouldn’t suffer some push back from some of the parents about the inclusion of Muslim literature in the classroom.
Are any of you worried?
I mean it’s one thing to be on a listserve like this and talk about the merits of inclusive literature, but it’s another dealing in the ‘real world’ with pushy parents some of whom have some pretty ignorant attitudes.
Maybe I’ve read too many derogatory comments about Muslims on online sites, and maybe I’ve internalized some of those sentiments too much, just saying.
If this sort of topic is taboo, feel free to educate me and even chastise me on this Elsa.
It’s just that sometimes I feel like I’m writing my heart out and it’s mostly for naught because teachers will be too scared to use my books and teacher guides anyway.
All the best,
Rukhsana Khan
Award-winning author and storyteller
www.rukhsanakhan.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/MsRukhsanaKhan
From: Helen Frost [mailto:helenfrost_at_comcast.net] Sent: Saturday, August 23, 2014 6:09 PM To: ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu Subject: [ccbc-net] King For A Day
Hi Rukhsana,
Remember me? We met on that wild ride over the pass in a blizzard at night, on the way to Valdez for the Alaska Library Association conference last year. And survived the 48 inches of snow that fell during the conference ("Please walk to the conference center. The conference bus is getting dug out of the snow.") That was memorable!
I love King for a Day, and I do have a question about it. Was the wheelchair your vision when you wrote it, or did the illustrator do that of her own accord. I don't think it's mentioned in the text, which is brilliant either way.
I learned a lot and enjoyed the book very much. The bully is kept in the background, with the hero foregrounded, which makes the hero more heroic.
I'd love to hear anything you have to say about the conception and making of this beautiful book.
thanks to you, and to Elsa for moderating the conversation,
Helen Frost
==== CCBC-Net Use ==== You are currently subscribed to ccbc-net as: rukhsana_at_rukhsanakhan.com.
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Received on Sun 24 Aug 2014 07:49:30 PM CDT
