with Christine Pakkala
The focus of this semester’s book club will be on the work of middle-grade novelist Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. Two-time Newbury Honor medalist Bradley’s work will give us ripe material for discussion. We will read her work as writers, studying her craft choices and techniques for building suspense, creating memorable, authentic characters and structuring a plot that delivers both suspense and emotional catharsis for young readers (and, ahem, older ones!). We will try a few writing exercises as well to practice what we’re gleaning from Bradley’s pages. Please join me!
Selected titles include:
Fighting Words
The War That Saved My Life
The War I Finally Won
Halfway to the Sky
Optional: Want an extra hour of one-on-one attention?
Christine will provide written feedback on either part of a manuscript OR a query letter for a total of an extra hour of consultation time. Please choose this option in the drop-down menu when purchasing this workshop. This extra time will be scheduled directly with the instructor.
______________________WHERE:
Online via ZOOM (link will be sent the week of the first class)
DATES:7 Thursdays
April 5, 12, off, 26, May 3, 10, 17, 24
TIME
12:30-3pm EST
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LIMITED TO 7 STUDENTSPlease Note: WWW reserves the right to reduce the class time by 1/2 hour if enrollment is less than 5 students.
About the Instructor...
Christine Pakkala is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop MFA. She was a Fulbright Scholar (1994) in Helsinki, Finland, where she translated modern Finnish poetry. She taught 7th and 9th grade English at Horace Mann and has published essays in Salon, BrainChild and Serendipity and is the 2013 winner of the Ladies Home Journal essay contest. She’s the author of Last-But-Not-Least Lola Going Green, which was the winner of the Santa Monica Public Library's Green Prize, and a novel for teens, Jasmine and Maddie, which was a VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocate) Top Shelf pick and a Bank Street Best Book.