Things Ninjas Didn’t Do (That You Think They Did)
#2) Be male.
Deadly Flowers
Were there really female ninja? People ask me this when I mention Deadly Flowers.
The thing is, we don’t actually know that much about what ninjas really did. They were secretive. That was the whole point. A ninja who got written into the history books probably wasn’t a very good ninja. So we go on myth and legend a lot. And legend has it that there were at least some women who worked as ninjas.
It’s said that a woman in feudal Japan, named Chiyome (or Chiyojo), lost her husband in battle. There weren’t that many options for a widow in that time period. She could marry again, or she could become a nun. Chiyome went in another direction. She opened up a school for ninjas. For girl ninjas.
Chiyome is said to have take in girls and trained them to travel around Japan as spies, gathering information for her husband’s overload, Takeda Shingen. They were called “walking maidens,” her students, for their itinerant ways. Another name for female ninjas was “deadly flowers.”
Can we prove it? No. But then we can’t prove anything much about ninjas.
Could it have happened? Why not? It was a time of civil war in Japan. Things were unsettled and desperate. A warlord like Takeda would have been glad for any advantage he could get over his rivals. For women to act as ninjas would have gone against tradition, it wouldn’t have been something to be discussed in polite society, and the women who did it would have been taking on great risk and hardship. But, yes, it could have happened.
Read MoreNew Reviews for QUICK, LITTLE MONKEY!
Quick, Little Monkey! (on shelves in March 2016) got two lovely reviews last week!
Kirkus Reviews says:
Clinging to her father’s back, Little Monkey travels safely across jungle treetops until one day she’s distracted and tumbles downward to the dark forest floor, where hungry predators lurk. Rhythmic text describes how Little Monkey loves “to fly” from “vine to vine” and “branch to branch,” holding tightly to her Papa’s fur as he carries her “high and safe and quick in the bright, loud, green world.” When Papa warns Little Monkey to hide on a tree branch and stay still, she can’t resist reaching out for a butterfly and slips “down into a quiet dark.” Remembering Papa’s advice to hide, keep still, and hold tight, Little Monkey barely escapes a menacing ocelot by climbing up to a “coiled and curved” vine that turns out to be a sinister boa. Fortunately, Papa arrives in the nick of time. Bold pencil lines, atmospheric watercolor washes in bright greens, browns, and yellows, and double-page spreads of Little Monkey’s vertical descent and Papa’s horizontal flights perfectly convey the drama and energy of jungle life. Exaggerated close-ups of Little Monkey’s face capture her range of emotions, from exuberant joy as she rides on Papa’s back to paralyzing terror as she faces the unknown. Exciting jungle high jinks starring one adorable little monkey and her protective Papa.
And Publishers Weekly says:
As a baby pygmy marmoset rides on her father’s back, he shows her how to “read” the jungle landscape for predators—the shadow of wings above, the sound of “soft footsteps” on the ground below—and to stay safe. “Hide here” Papa tells her. “Keep still.” When Little Monkey can’t resist reaching for a butterfly, she tumbles away from Papa, “down into a quiet dark of slow roots and still earth and cold shadow,” and into some very dangerous territory. But Little Monkey remembers her lessons and manages to make her way back to Papa. The wide-eyed primate heroine is cute and plucky, and Judge’s ( Good Morning to Me! ) woodsy-toned watercolors create moments of high drama by playing up the difference in scale between the tiny marmoset and the rest of the world (in one scene, she’s dwarfed by the huge eyes of a hungry ocelot)…. It’s an evocative story of survival of the itty-bittiest. Ages 3–7.
An early Christmas present to a happy author!
Read MoreTalking (Not Writing)
A while back, I was listening to a great Maine Calling show on MBPN, about public speaking and how to do it well. Writers can’t just shut ourselves up in our writing caves and type; some days we actually have to get out there and speak to people about our work.
For my fellow writers and anybody who has to get up in front of people and (gasp!) talk, here are some things I’m learning:
- Don’t start with an apology (“I have a cold, please excuse me”), a summary (“So I’m going to talk to you today about…”) or a greeting/intro (“Hi, I’m Sarah.”). Start with a statement or a question. Give them something substantial.
- Don’t be afraid of silence. Pause between sentences and thoughts. It conveys authority and confidence. Rushing to fill up silence conveys nervousness.
- Look at people’s ears. You will engage them without making them feel stared at.
- Nervous energy wants to leave your body. Standing still and talking is hard. If you want to move, move–just do it deliberately, as if you meant to.
- Nobody wants you to fail. The audience is eager to be interested in what you say, because otherwise they are going to be bored. They want you to be good. They’re not mean. Try not to be scared of them.
And a couple of my own:
- Give yourself permission to bore one or two people. You won’t and can’t catch everybody with every speech.
- Practice, practice, practice. Then you’ll be able to say whatever it is even when you’re nervous.
- AND MY OWN PERSONAL, FAVORITE, ALL-IMPORTANT TIP OF ALL TIME: Never be afraid to be short. People will love you for it.
Read More
Ninjas for Christmas
All other gifts in the stock must beware the ninja nesting doll!
My fab editor at Boyds Mill sent me ninja nesting dolls for Christmas. I really do have the best job in the world. I bet nobody else on the planet got ninja nesting dolls from a colleague.
Note ferocious eyebrows and culturally correct weaponry. She (of course she’s a girl, as in my upcoming novel, titled Deadly Flowers for the moment) is carrying a sword, probably the shorter one known as a wakizashi, and a shuriken, or throwing dagger, the quintessential ninja weapon (from the movies, anyway. Probably they were not used as widely in real life, since they weren’t all that accurate. Pretty scary to have one whizzing by your face, though.).
Read MoreSarah L. Thomson
A children’s book author publishing award-winning nonfiction, poetry, picture books and novels including…
“Readers will treasure the blossoming friendship between opposites in this whimsically illustrated tale. Short chapters and plenty of action make for an accessible and appealing reading experience. . . . Touching and inspiring.”
—Kirkus Reviews