Best American Magazine Writing and Writing Pictures Books

It feels as though writing and/or journaling could make for a great New Year’s resolution.  Here are a couple of ideas to help with getting started.  Learning the craft of writing (or just being attuned to current events and good writing) means exposing oneself to high quality examples. In fact, we are always looking for short pieces to share with students and this collection (over 500 pages and recently published by Columbia University Press) offers some great ideas: THE BEST AMERICAN MAGAZINE WRITING 2018 edited by Sid Holt for the American Society of Magazine Editors.  Articles from Rebecca Traister, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and others deal with heavy, critical issues like the #MeToo movement, race relations, international atrocities, maternal mortality, and robotics. 

When reviewing this book, I learned that the Ellie Awards are distributed each year by the American Society of Magazine Editors and they have a searchable database of past winners and finalists. Those chosen for this recent edition were published in a variety of places like the New Yorker, ProPublica, Wired, ESPN, NPR and Smithsonian. Other awards and sources for the “best” journalism pieces of 2018 include lists from Longreads, from Longform, via David Brooks (the Sidneys), and/or the Pulitzer Prizes for Journalism. Plus, The Atlantic journalist Conor Friedersdorf will publish a list of 100 choices later in the new year (here are his recommendations for 2017).

Perhaps your interest tends more towards children’s books; in that case, have a look at WRITING PICTURE BOOKS Revised and Expanded Edition by Ann Whitford Paul who taught about writing picture books for ten years through UCLA.  I love that her first section is titled “Before You Write Your Story: Becoming a Picture Book Scholar” because there are so many fabulous examples in this genre. And she provides insightful comments such as on the number of words versus readers’ ages or on the intended audience which really has two components: parents and children. Of course, Paul’s newest edition also includes sections on the details of developing one’s own book whether she is discussing building the frame, creating compelling characters, plotting, finding an ending, or choosing a title. The exercises included here assume that the reader has a rough draft to revise. Then, she continues to the world of publishing with suggestions for creating a mock-up of the book, submitting a manuscript, and a review of self-publishing considerations. Overall, WRITING PICTURE BOOKS is a helpful, valuable resource.

It is always fun when one of our creative writing, language, or art classes tackles a picture book assignment, too. The students have so many fond memories and learn so much! They can consult works like Molly Bang’s Picture This! or Light the Dark. Paul’s text on WRITING PICTURE BOOKS prompted me to pull out Writing and Illustrating Children’s Books for Publication. Created in a collaboration by Berthe Amoss and Eric Suben more than twenty years ago, it is filled with exercises for aspiring writers. We have also previously suggested other books about writing short stories and some additional journaling resources. Enjoy experimenting with them all and have a Happy, Creative New Year!

Newcomer by Higashino and some debut mysteries

What could be better than to enjoy the holiday break by reading several new mystery stories? 

My favorite so far is NEWCOMER by Keigo Higashino, a new author to me, but a best-selling novelist in Japan and Asia. His earlier work, The Devotion of Suspect X was an Edgar Award finalist.  This more recent title, translated by Giles Murray, was a LibraryReads selection for November and can be read as a stand alone.  The main character in NEWCOMER is Detective Kyochiro Kaga, recently transferred to a new precinct in the Tokyo Police Department. In order to solve the murder of a recently divorced woman, Kaga interviews the victim’s family and their associates. But the story begins with inquiries at a rice cracker shop in Tokyo’s traditional shopping district of Nihonbashi, where the victim, another newcomer, had recently moved. Kaga, a Columbo-like figure, later also visits a traditional restaurant, plus stores selling china, clocks, pastries, and handicrafts. What makes this mystery especially memorable are the small mysteries within the larger one since Higashino cleverly develops the characters and their own secrets at each locale. In fact, over two dozen characters are included in a helpful cast list.  Although I initially picked-up this book and found the translation to be a bit jarring, particularly when Murray chooses phrases for dialogue like “got you” and “my old man,” I kept reading – the story was compelling and allowed for ignoring those discordant notes. NEWCOMER received a starred review from Kirkus. 

 
I also felt transported by the setting, a fictional Indian reservation in New Mexico, for HEARTS OF THE MISSING by Carol Potenza. Sergeant Nicky Matthews of the Tsiba’ashi D’yini (Fire-Sky Pueblo) reservation police deals with a misogynistic boss and undercover FBI activity while trying to solve the murder of Sandra Deering, an undergraduate who was investigating “lost” members of the tribe. Nicky obviously cares about the people she has sworn to protect and has gradually overcome biases on the reservation against outsiders while also trying to understand more about her own disconcerting visions of the Wind Mother. There is quite a bit for readers to process in this fast moving story, including a potential serial killer, tribal customs and ritual sacrifice, but it is an engrossing read worth the effort.  

This debut mystery won the Tony Hillerman Prize for Potenza, an assistant professor in chemistry and biochemistry at New Mexico State University. I am looking forward to more in this series; HEARTS OF THE MISSING received starred reviews from both Library Journal and Publishers Weekly. 

MURDER AT THE MILL by M.B. Shaw is more of a traditional cozy mystery, set in a small English village where portrait artist Iris Grey is coming to terms with the end of her marriage. There, she finds purpose in agreeing to create a birthday portrait of The Mill’s owner, Dominic Wetherby. Soon, the holidays arrive and Iris is drawn into some local celebrations. Of course, it is not long until Wetherby’s body is found and Iris sets out with his suspicious daughter-in-law to disprove the ruling of suicide and find a culprit.   

Overall, I thought the solution (in terms of perpetrator if not motive) was fairly obvious, but this is still a diverting read with plenty of family members as possible suspects and even a bit of romance. MURDER AT THE MILL received a starred review from Kirkus and is a mystery debut under a pseudonym used by established author Tilly Bagshawe.