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I like journaling a lot because
it's the one place I can go to

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and say anything, be
anyone, wear any hat,

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say anything silly,
say anything rowdy,

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be as loud or as quiet or as
crazy or as wacky as I can be,

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and it's also a place where

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I can discover maybe another
little section of myself.

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This is a short
stack of journals I have.

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More than 150 journals
are packed away in boxes.

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I try everyday to do a
little something in my journal.

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And a lot of times
I just walk around

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with a packet of
Post-It notes in my pocket.

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It doesn't necessarily mean
that the journal entry is a

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great, thoughtful,
heartfelt moment.

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Sometimes it's just as mundane
as a recipe I'm thinking about.

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This is the journal
where when I get an idea

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that I think this is a keeper,
it goes in this journal.

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This is like the chief of
the journals, right here.

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When I work with
kids on journaling,

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which I like to do a
lot, one of the things I do

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is make sure they set that
journal up like a real pro.

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So we have
sections for the journal.

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The first thing, we draw.

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I make them draw their
neighborhoods because

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I want them to start paying
attention to where they live.

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Then we make lists of
things: good days, bad days,

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embarrassing days,
homework, sports, music.

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And then we start trying
to draw connections between

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where they live, who they
know, what they know about, and

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what they're doing. Get them
to think of the connections.

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That's what a story is.
It's a sequence of connections.

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And the journal is a great place
for them to practice that.

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When I started the Jack Henry
books, and I knew that they

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were autobiographical, the first
thing I always have to do is go

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back in my old journals
as a child, and I reread

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that section of
time in those journals.

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I pull out all the really good
juicy details. And then when

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I write a story, there is
something on the gut level or

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some incident that
really took place that's true.

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And so whenever I get ready
to write a Jack Henry book,

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first person I look
at is me.

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ROTTEN RALPH has been around
for 26 years, because

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every kid makes mistakes. Every
kid explores the other side.

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Now, Rotten Ralph is a character
that's always violating

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that line of behavior. But one
of the great things for Ralph,

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Sarah provides
unconditional love.

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Recently I've started writing
Rotten Ralph chapter books.

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I just wanted to give some
of those emerging readers just

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a little more
time with the book.

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So they're short chapters, high
energy, lots of rotten stuff,

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naturally, to
keep them interested,

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but just a little bit longer.

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Probably one of the most
attractive qualities that the

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Joey books offer the
reader is that Joey,

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at the center of his
heart, is a very good kid.

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He's got problems,
personal problems.

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He's got family problems.
He's got community problems.

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He's got school problems.
He's got special ed problems.

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And so for him every time
he has a desire to do good,

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there just seems to
be a hurdle for him.

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Sometimes he gets over it.
Sometimes he trips over it.

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But, still, in the
reader's mind, he's trying,

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and every kid tries.

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When I get ready to
put together a novel,

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I write all the really juicy
sections first because that's

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where I'm having the biggest
gut feeling for the book,

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and I trust that gut feeling.

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I write a lot at the
Boston Public Library.

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And I was sharpening a
pencil, and I looked at

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that and I saw this big
hole, and I thought Joey would

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stick his finger in the
hole and he'd give that a rip.

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So I got that little template.

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The shoe fly pie, got
that little template.

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And so once I started
getting those moments, I knew

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I was going to draw lines from
one to the next to the next.

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I know one of the reasons
why I write for children.

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It's because children are the
best readers in the country.

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They live those books.
They imagine those books.

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They travel emotionally
and mentally into the books.

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They're actually the most
absorbent readers there are.

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They're adhesive to the word.

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And when I get letters from
children, I get letters from

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children who have read a book,
are motivated to write me,

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and tell me exactly how it
changed something in their life.

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And that would always make
me write for children.