1 00:00:09,500 --> 00:00:13,667 I like journaling a lot because it's the one place I can go to 2 00:00:13,667 --> 00:00:17,367 and say anything, be anyone, wear any hat, 3 00:00:17,367 --> 00:00:20,700 say anything silly, say anything rowdy, 4 00:00:20,700 --> 00:00:26,267 be as loud or as quiet or as crazy or as wacky as I can be, 5 00:00:26,267 --> 00:00:27,467 and it's also a place where 6 00:00:27,467 --> 00:00:30,867 I can discover maybe another little section of myself. 7 00:00:30,867 --> 00:00:33,200 This is a short stack of journals I have. 8 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:37,367 More than 150 journals are packed away in boxes. 9 00:00:37,367 --> 00:00:40,600 I try everyday to do a little something in my journal. 10 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:43,600 And a lot of times I just walk around 11 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:46,300 with a packet of Post-It notes in my pocket. 12 00:00:46,300 --> 00:00:49,467 It doesn't necessarily mean that the journal entry is a 13 00:00:49,467 --> 00:00:52,367 great, thoughtful, heartfelt moment. 14 00:00:52,367 --> 00:00:57,400 Sometimes it's just as mundane as a recipe I'm thinking about. 15 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:00,100 This is the journal where when I get an idea 16 00:01:00,100 --> 00:01:04,300 that I think this is a keeper, it goes in this journal. 17 00:01:04,300 --> 00:01:08,200 This is like the chief of the journals, right here. 18 00:01:09,300 --> 00:01:11,100 When I work with kids on journaling, 19 00:01:11,100 --> 00:01:14,500 which I like to do a lot, one of the things I do 20 00:01:14,500 --> 00:01:18,500 is make sure they set that journal up like a real pro. 21 00:01:18,500 --> 00:01:20,700 So we have sections for the journal. 22 00:01:20,700 --> 00:01:22,800 The first thing, we draw. 23 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:24,600 I make them draw their neighborhoods because 24 00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:27,867 I want them to start paying attention to where they live. 25 00:01:27,867 --> 00:01:31,200 Then we make lists of things: good days, bad days, 26 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:35,467 embarrassing days, homework, sports, music. 27 00:01:35,467 --> 00:01:39,600 And then we start trying to draw connections between 28 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:43,300 where they live, who they know, what they know about, and 29 00:01:43,300 --> 00:01:46,800 what they're doing. Get them to think of the connections. 30 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:50,967 That's what a story is. It's a sequence of connections. 31 00:01:50,967 --> 00:01:54,267 And the journal is a great place for them to practice that. 32 00:01:57,500 --> 00:02:01,200 When I started the Jack Henry books, and I knew that they 33 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:05,300 were autobiographical, the first thing I always have to do is go 34 00:02:05,300 --> 00:02:08,467 back in my old journals as a child, and I reread 35 00:02:08,467 --> 00:02:11,000 that section of time in those journals. 36 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:14,600 I pull out all the really good juicy details. And then when 37 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:18,600 I write a story, there is something on the gut level or 38 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:22,100 some incident that really took place that's true. 39 00:02:22,100 --> 00:02:25,167 And so whenever I get ready to write a Jack Henry book, 40 00:02:25,167 --> 00:02:27,500 first person I look at is me. 41 00:02:30,300 --> 00:02:33,400 ROTTEN RALPH has been around for 26 years, because 42 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:41,667 every kid makes mistakes. Every kid explores the other side. 43 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:46,200 Now, Rotten Ralph is a character that's always violating 44 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:51,067 that line of behavior. But one of the great things for Ralph, 45 00:02:51,067 --> 00:02:53,400 Sarah provides unconditional love. 46 00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:59,267 Recently I've started writing Rotten Ralph chapter books. 47 00:02:59,267 --> 00:03:02,667 I just wanted to give some of those emerging readers just 48 00:03:02,667 --> 00:03:06,167 a little more time with the book. 49 00:03:06,167 --> 00:03:11,100 So they're short chapters, high energy, lots of rotten stuff, 50 00:03:11,100 --> 00:03:13,500 naturally, to keep them interested, 51 00:03:13,500 --> 00:03:15,500 but just a little bit longer. 52 00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:20,400 Probably one of the most attractive qualities that the 53 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:23,200 Joey books offer the reader is that Joey, 54 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:28,267 at the center of his heart, is a very good kid. 55 00:03:28,267 --> 00:03:30,567 He's got problems, personal problems. 56 00:03:30,567 --> 00:03:33,500 He's got family problems. He's got community problems. 57 00:03:33,500 --> 00:03:37,700 He's got school problems. He's got special ed problems. 58 00:03:37,700 --> 00:03:41,600 And so for him every time he has a desire to do good, 59 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:44,400 there just seems to be a hurdle for him. 60 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:49,100 Sometimes he gets over it. Sometimes he trips over it. 61 00:03:49,100 --> 00:03:53,500 But, still, in the reader's mind, he's trying, 62 00:03:53,500 --> 00:03:56,667 and every kid tries. 63 00:03:57,167 --> 00:03:59,167 When I get ready to put together a novel, 64 00:03:59,167 --> 00:04:03,100 I write all the really juicy sections first because that's 65 00:04:03,100 --> 00:04:05,900 where I'm having the biggest gut feeling for the book, 66 00:04:05,900 --> 00:04:07,800 and I trust that gut feeling. 67 00:04:07,800 --> 00:04:10,000 I write a lot at the Boston Public Library. 68 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:11,600 And I was sharpening a pencil, and I looked at 69 00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:15,100 that and I saw this big hole, and I thought Joey would 70 00:04:15,100 --> 00:04:19,200 stick his finger in the hole and he'd give that a rip. 71 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:21,767 So I got that little template. 72 00:04:21,767 --> 00:04:24,800 The shoe fly pie, got that little template. 73 00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:28,700 And so once I started getting those moments, I knew 74 00:04:28,700 --> 00:04:32,367 I was going to draw lines from one to the next to the next. 75 00:04:33,500 --> 00:04:35,900 I know one of the reasons why I write for children. 76 00:04:35,900 --> 00:04:40,000 It's because children are the best readers in the country. 77 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:43,667 They live those books. They imagine those books. 78 00:04:43,667 --> 00:04:47,100 They travel emotionally and mentally into the books. 79 00:04:47,100 --> 00:04:52,100 They're actually the most absorbent readers there are. 80 00:04:52,100 --> 00:04:54,700 They're adhesive to the word. 81 00:04:54,700 --> 00:04:58,500 And when I get letters from children, I get letters from 82 00:04:58,500 --> 00:05:02,567 children who have read a book, are motivated to write me, 83 00:05:02,567 --> 00:05:07,900 and tell me exactly how it changed something in their life. 84 00:05:07,900 --> 00:05:11,867 And that would always make me write for children.