Roland's Journal » Reading http://rolandsmith.com/blog Adventure | Books | Animals Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:18:51 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Out of the blue… http://rolandsmith.com/blog/2009/10/out-of-the-blue/ http://rolandsmith.com/blog/2009/10/out-of-the-blue/#comments Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:32:58 +0000 roland http://rolandsmith.com/blog/2009/10/out-of-the-blue/ Speaking of awards. From time to time I also get emails like the one below from Mark Tanner, who I have never met, out of the blue…

I was sitting at the airport last night in Salt Lake City feeling a little tired after our drive up to from Elko.

My iPhone pinged.

What now? I thought.

Answer: Email award!

I can’t tell you what these kinds of emails mean to me. They are miracle tonics. My weariness vanished.

I’m going to post these once in awhile in this journal because it would be a shame to keep them just to myself.

Mr. Roland Smith,

Just this week, my 11 year old son brought home Cryptid Hunter. He got it from his school and was reading it. He told me it was very good. Although reading it not my “thing” (nor is writing) but I picked it up and started reading it. For the past week, my son and I have been playing “steal the book from each other” so we could read it. I would wait until he went to sleep then I would sneak in and get it. I just want to let you know that even a 46 year old really enjoyed your book. I also just ordered Tentacles. I’m sure it will be great as well.

My 14 year old daughter started reading at about 2 weeks old (not really but very young). She’ll read a 500 page book in one evening. She wants to be a writer/author/editor or something along those lines. If you have any words of wisdom, advice or inspiration on how to be a writer, she would be very grateful.

I hope you plan to continue with this series.

Thanks,
Mark Tanner

]]> http://rolandsmith.com/blog/2009/10/out-of-the-blue/feed/ 3 The Book Whisperer http://rolandsmith.com/blog/2009/09/the-book-whisperer/ http://rolandsmith.com/blog/2009/09/the-book-whisperer/#comments Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:19:17 +0000 roland http://rolandsmith.com/blog/2009/09/the-book-whisperer/ I got a call a few weeks ago from librarian, and good friend, Joan Arth. She told me she had just read an excellent book by Donalyn Miller called “The Book Whisperer.” Joan also mentioned that Donalyn had kindly mentioned some of my novels in her book (which of course peaked my interest even more). I looked Donalyn up on the Internet, read about her, and immediately ordered her wonderful book.

Bottom line… Donalyn gets her 6th grade students to read 40+ books, every year, year after year, and explains exactly how she does this.

When I write a book I “try” to create readers because of the profound impact reading has had on my life Donalyn actually “creates” readers by what she does in her classroom.

All teachers, librarians, and parents need to read this book.

You can find Donalyn under “My Favorite Links” on this page.

Look her up. Read her book!

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