Reading Aloud and Loving It

Last week I was honoured to be one of a group of guest readers at a local elementary school in celebration of Family Literacy Day. Upon arrival, we were warmly welcomed by staff and the Grade Eight students who would be our greeters, our tour guides, and the ones to introduce us to each class.

As we moved from class to class at fifteen minute intervals we shared the books we had chosen with the students from kindergarten to Grade Seven. Our Grade Eight ambassadors sometimes got to hear the stories more than once, but they never complained and remained helpful and courteous throughout.

When the bell rang to signal that it was time to move on we were hustled along the hall to the next classroom. The team who helped me find my next stop were three sweet girls — Amanda, Tamara, and Zoë (who also happens to be my granddaughter). That meant I was introduced as "Peggy Dymond Leavey, Local Author and Zoë's Grandmother" (also Miles's when we got to the Grade Four room).

It was a fun morning. I believe you're never too old to enjoy being read to, and there are wonderful picture books out there that work for all ages.

Here are a few tips in case you are lucky enough to be asked to read aloud to someone some day.

If you have only fifteen minutes, picture books of more than forty pages are too long to complete. 
Time your selection carefully.
Practise, practise, practise. 
Be familiar with the story you are reading so that you can make frequent eye contact with your audience; you'll want to gauge their reaction.
Use appropriate facial expressions.
Emote, react, change the tone of your voice to suit the character or the situation.
LOVE the book you choose. It took me three trips to the public library to find the perfect picture books. 

So, which books did I choose?

Kindergarten & Grade One: The Gruffalo, by Julia Donaldson; Please Louise, by Frieda Wishinsky.
Grade Two & Three: My Sister Gracie, by Gillian Johnson; Chrysanthemum, by Kevin Henkes.
Grade Four & Five: Probuditi, by Chris Van Allsburg. (Fun to see the children "get it.")
Grade Six & Seven: The Real Story of The Big Bad Wolf, by A. Wolf, as told to Jon Scieszka;                               The Stinky Cheese Man, by Jon Scieszka.

On Loving Books

My book-loving Dad with my older sister, Mary, and me in Quebec City. 

Some of the hardest possessions to part with are books. I'm trying to de-clutter these days (aren't we all, in January?) and decided that our bookshelves were long overdue for a purging.

I can be fairly ruthless when it comes to getting rid of paperback picture books or old board books that even the grandchildren have outgrown, but books that have been family favourites will always have a place in our home. As will books that have tender inscriptions in them. Or books that have been signed by the author. I come by this love of books quite honestly.

The other day, while sorting, I came across a tiny, hardcover book called Coaches and Coaching, by Leigh Hunt. I have it here on my desk. It looks a little scruffy, and it is obviously quite old because the pages are yellowed. Printed in Edinburgh, Scotland, there is no publication date, which I find disappointing.

My mother had given it to me after Dad died in 1992. Inside, I find a note on a slip of paper. Mom's note explains that my father bought the book because it was small enough to fit in a pocket. He liked to have a small volume with him wherever he went, my mother explained, so that he was never without something to read.

If you love books, you probably share that sentiment. What do we do if we have nothing to read??

On Starting to Write

I feel a sense of anticipation now. After months of reading and dabbling at research, I am about to start writing. There will be more of this fact-finding work to come, including visits to Kingston and the Cataraqui Archaelogical Research Centre, the Anglican Diocese of Ontario Archives and I hope, another trip to the Mohawk Valley in New York to follow up on research I began there late last year.

But now I am eager to start the actual writing, to see how the story begins to flow (or not!), to breathe life into the legendary heroine, Molly Brant, Mohawk Loyalist. Once again, I have taken over the dining room table in our house.

Write on!

Taking Laura on the Road

In the midst of my reading and note-taking on Molly Brant (1736–1796) I had to switch gears and go forward in time for one more Laura Secord presentation.

Yesterday I was guest speaker at the local Probus Club where I presented my biography, Laura Secord: Heroine of the War of 1812. The turnout for the morning meeting was large, and everyone was friendly and welcoming.

I have this particular presentation down pat, so I can be pretty relaxed about it. Although I'm always grateful that someone in the audience with more technical knowledge than I have will help with the connection between my laptop and the club's projector. Once we get that little worry out of the way, I'm good to go, and I actually enjoy myself.

This was my last presentation for this year. I've talked about both Laura Secord and Mary Pickford, Canada's Silent Siren, America's Sweetheart (my 2011 book) at numerous venues throughout 2012. Laura was officially launched in late May in Wellington, Ontario, but with the bicentennial celebrations of the War of 1812 just underway, she and I really got around after that. Positive reviews of the book in the Toronto Star and Canada's History Magazine helped keep me energized. 

I keep reminding my audiences that 2013 will actually be Laura Secord's year. June 22nd will mark the bicentennial of her courageous cross-county trek to warn the British that the American troops were planning a surprise attack on them. So, rest up Laura. Perhaps the best is yet to come!

November Rambles through Molly Brant Country

At Fort Johnson, on the western edge of Amsterdam, NY, I got my first look at the Mohawk River. Here on the riverbank in 1749 Sir William Johnson, one of the most powerful white men in 18th century America, built his third Mohawk Valley residence. He was thirty-four.

The Mohawk River, the largest tributary of the Hudson, flows generally east through the Mohawk Valley. It was the waterway used by many British sympathizers in their flight to Upper Canada during and after the American Revolution. (Laura Secord's family, the Ingersolls, travelled 100 miles against the current of the Mohawk before portaging to Oneida Lake. Then it was on to Port Oswego and the final leg of their journey across Lake Ontario.)

Fort Johnson, home of William Johnson & Molly Brant

Around 1759, Sir William brought the young Mohawk woman, Molly Brant, to live with him as his wife in Fort Johnson, the name he gave this stone manor house. William Johnson was forty-four; Molly in her early twenties. Here at Fort Johnson a number of their children were born.

Plaque showing a northern view of Fort Johnson, Sir William's estate.

 

 

From Fort Johnson we followed Route 5 along the Mohawk River, west towards Palatine Bridge where we crossed to the south side of the waterway and the village of Canajoharie. This village is named after the Upper Mohawk Castle where Molly was born, about 1736.

Unfortunately, Wintergreen Park that affords public access to the overlook above Canajoharie Falls was closed for the season. Here, millions of years ago a glacial river cut a three-mile gorge through the rock.

"Canajohie" means "a pot that washes itself" and it was so-called by the Mohawk people because of a large circular pothole, ground into solid rock near the lower end of the gorge through which the creek flows. The name was used for the Upper Mohawk Castle as well as the creek, the gorge, the falls, and today's village.

Village sign with photo of "the pot that washes itself."

Back in town, we visited the very attractive Canajoharie Library and Art Gallery, one of the finest small art galleries in the US. Here we were able to pick up brochures and maps of the area and talk to the very helpful staff. The art gallery's core collection consists of 350 paintings by American artists, including 21 oils and watercolours by Winslow Homer. It is well worth a visit.

On the Trail of Molly Brant

Johnson Hall

We spent a few days last week on the trail of Molly Brant, the subject of my latest research. I always find it helps me get to know someone if I can spend a bit of time poking about in their familiar surroundings.

With Johnstown, NY as our destination we crossed the border and headed south east, following Rte 12, which we later discovered was not the shortest route but certainly the most attractive. We'd left the traffic behind on the interstate and now travelled winding country roads, up and down hills, and round endless curves.

Just as I was thinking that whatever was at the end of the narrow twisting, road wasn't going to be much, there it was — a city, no less!

Where does a retired librarian go to get information? To a library, of course, and we were there almost as soon as it opened the next morning. I wish I'd gotten the name of the woman at the circulation desk, who was so patient with my questions and who went to no end of trouble digging up maps and information for me. Yes, all librarians are supposed to be that helpful. but we know it isn't always true.

Before leaving Johnstown we visited Johnson Hall, the home Sir William Johnson (1715–1774) built for Molly Brant and their family in 1763.

Cobblestone courtyard behind Johnson Hall and east stone house.

The Georgian house, built of wood and clapboard cut to look like stone, was the second manor house Sir William, Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Northern Colonies, had shared with his partner, Molly Brant. It was the centre of Sir William's estate and the scene of many Indian conferences, and here Molly had presided as housekeeper and gracious hostess to a long line of important diplomats and their wives. Many of the original buildings in Johnstown were built under the direction of Sir William, and as activity increased around the Hall the surrounding community grew.

Well-tended grounds at Johnson Hall.

Although Johnson Hall was closed for the season, all locked and shuttered, when we visited, we were able to stroll the grounds that included a cobblestone courtyard behind the house, the two stone blockhouses, and vast surrounding park.

Then it was time to head on to the next stop on our self-guided tour: Fort Johnson and the house where Sir William brought Molly, the young Mohawk maiden, to live as his wife.

Stay tuned!

What Are You Writing Now?

Whenever I do a reading or a book signing of my latest title, someone will ask the inevitable question, "What are you writing now?"

It used to be that I would circle around the answer, always avoiding telling what the new story was about, believing I could jinx it before it ever saw the light of day. (I believe this because it's happened to me.)

I acknowledge that in order to be happy I have to be writing something. I've always loved working with words — my own or editing those of someone else. Lately,  my writing has taken a different tack. I am helping a gentleman get his personal recollections ready to be published in a book.

Currently, I visit him once a week with my digital voice recorder, and he tells me the stories as they occur to him. He has lived in this town for more than 85 years and is a fount of knowledge of its history. A history buff myself, I am thrilled to be able to help preserve these memories.

After I have transcribed his words and edited them into a readable form, I email them to him to read. Before we record another session we will go over those pages together, making revisions. Another rewrite and edit, and they will be ready for him to make the final revisions.

Stay tuned!