Good Conversation!

  Journey to Scotland to meet the author of The Devils Arithmetic, and enjoy a fascinating discussion of her life and writing. -22 mins Nominated as best video of the year, American Library Association {mgmediabot2}path=images/stories/video_clips/yolen.flvlightbox=true lightboxcaption=A Talk with Jane Yolen - Demo Cliplightboxpreview=images/stories/demobw.gifwidth=400height=300displayheight=300playlist=none{/mgmediabot2} {njaccess 18,25,36,37}{mgmediabot2}path=images/stories/videos/yolen_384K.flvlightbox=true lightboxcaption=A Talk with Jane Yolenlightboxpreview=images/stories/lowerbw.gifwidth=400height=300displayheight=300playlist=none{/mgmediabot2}{mgmediabot2}path=images/stories/videos/yolen_1Mbps.flvlightbox=truelightboxcaption=A Talk with Jane Yolenlightboxpreview=images/stories/highbw.gifwidth=400height=300displayheight=300playlist=none{/mgmediabot2}{/njaccess} {njaccess 0,29}Like what you see? Click here to Register for ourFree 2-Week Trial and get unlimited viewing of this program!{/njaccess} {njaccess 18,36}Thank you for Registering for our Free 2-Week Trial.We hope you'll decide to become a full-time member!{/njaccess}{njaccess 38}We're sorry, but your Free 2-Week Trial has ended.You will need to purchase a subscription to view this entire program.{/njaccess}{njaccess 39}We're sorry, but your subscription has ended. We hope you will come back and join us again soon!{/njaccess} Topics for classroom discussion and assignments:The author says that we all have experiences that are strange, magical and wondrous. Write about an experience that supports this statement, giving an example from your own lives.Discuss and write a short essay on what makes a good friend. Impossible events can become exciting fantasy stories. Have the class brainstorm impossible things, then write a story about one of them.Teachers and librarians, submit your own topics:If you're a teacher or librarian, you're invited to submit a topic for classroom discussion or an interesting assignment. If we add your submission to the list above, you'll receive a Professional Letter of Recognition from us along with a goodconversations.com gift.Click here for more information.

  Join the author of Dragonwings for a discussion of his life, writing and what it was like growing up as an Asian American. Laurence Yep reads from his work along the shore of the Pacific Ocean and takes the viewer on a tour of his hometown on the Monterey Peninsula in California. -20 mins {mgmediabot2}path=images/stories/video_clips/yep.flvlightbox=true lightboxcaption=A Talk with Laurence Yep - Demo Cliplightboxpreview=images/stories/demobw.gifwidth=400height=300displayheight=300playlist=none{/mgmediabot2} {njaccess 18,25,36,37}{mgmediabot2}path=images/stories/videos/yep_384K.flvlightbox=true lightboxcaption=A Talk with Laurence Yeplightboxpreview=images/stories/lowerbw.gifwidth=400height=300displayheight=300playlist=none{/mgmediabot2}{mgmediabot2}path=images/stories/videos/yep_1Mbps.flvlightbox=truelightboxcaption=A Talk with Laurence Yeplightboxpreview=images/stories/highbw.gifwidth=400height=300displayheight=300playlist=none{/mgmediabot2}{/njaccess} {njaccess 0,29}Like what you see? Click here to Register for ourFree 2-Week Trial and get unlimited viewing of this program!{/njaccess} {njaccess 18,36}Thank you for Registering for our Free 2-Week Trial.We hope you'll decide to become a full-time member!{/njaccess}{njaccess 38}We're sorry, but your Free 2-Week Trial has ended.You will need to purchase a subscription to view this entire program.{/njaccess}{njaccess 39}We're sorry, but your subscription has ended. We hope you will come back and join us again soon!{/njaccess} Topics for classroom discussion and assignments:Laurence Yep believe there is magic in our world — and that it’s all around us.  Discuss what Laurence Yep means by this, and then develop your own thoughts on this idea in an essay. The author is asked if he believes in demons and dragons. He says that in his novels he takes people he knows and makes them into monsters. Discuss this statement and then write about it.  Write a story using real people in your life for demons and dragons.Teachers and librarians, submit your own topics:If you're a teacher or librarian, you're invited to submit a topic for classroom discussion or an interesting assignment. If we add your submission to the list above, you'll receive a Professional Letter of Recognition from us along with a goodconversations.com gift.Click here for more information.

  Nancy Willard reads aloud from her Newbery Award-winning book, A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers and talks about the pleasures of writing poetry.-18 mins {mgmediabot2}path=images/stories/video_clips/willard.flvlightbox=true lightboxcaption=A Talk with Nancy Willard - Demo Cliplightboxpreview=images/stories/demobw.gifwidth=400height=300displayheight=300playlist=none{/mgmediabot2} {njaccess 18,25,36,37}{mgmediabot2}path=images/stories/videos/willard_384K.flvlightbox=true lightboxcaption=A Talk with Nancy Willardlightboxpreview=images/stories/lowerbw.gifwidth=400height=300displayheight=300playlist=none{/mgmediabot2}{mgmediabot2}path=images/stories/videos/willard_1Mbps.flvlightbox=truelightboxcaption=A Talk with Nancy Willardlightboxpreview=images/stories/highbw.gifwidth=400height=300displayheight=300playlist=none{/mgmediabot2}{/njaccess} {njaccess 0,29}Like what you see? Click here to Register for ourFree 2-Week Trial and get unlimited viewing of this program!{/njaccess} {njaccess 18,36}Thank you for Registering for our Free 2-Week Trial.We hope you'll decide to become a full-time member!{/njaccess}{njaccess 38}We're sorry, but your Free 2-Week Trial has ended.You will need to purchase a subscription to view this entire program.{/njaccess}{njaccess 39}We're sorry, but your subscription has ended. We hope you will come back and join us again soon!{/njaccess} Topics for classroom discussion and assignments:Make a character out of something you found in your home. Give it a name and a personality. Write an essay about your “character” — or write a poem about it. Begin a class newspaper, including topics that are important to your class and school. Discuss the differences between a newspaper and oral history. Which is more accurate? Which will last longer? Which is more interesting?Teachers and librarians, submit your own topics:If you're a teacher or librarian, you're invited to submit a topic for classroom discussion or an interesting assignment. If we add your submission to the list above, you'll receive a Professional Letter of Recognition from us along with a goodconversations.com gift.Click here for more information.

  Take an excursion to Deer Isle, Maine for a rare conversation with author Cynthia Voigt. She talks about her Newbery Award-winning book Dicey's Song and gives advice to the aspiring writer. She also talks about her life as a teacher and discusses how it compares to her life as a writer. -20 mins School Library Journal - Video Pick of the Week, 6/12/06 {mgmediabot2}path=images/stories/video_clips/voigt.flvlightbox=true lightboxcaption=A Talk with Cynthia Voigt - Demo Cliplightboxpreview=images/stories/demobw.gifwidth=400height=300displayheight=300playlist=none{/mgmediabot2} {njaccess 18,25,36,37}{mgmediabot2}path=images/stories/videos/voigt_384K.flvlightbox=true lightboxcaption=A Talk with Cynthia Voigtlightboxpreview=images/stories/lowerbw.gifwidth=400height=300displayheight=300playlist=none{/mgmediabot2}{mgmediabot2}path=images/stories/videos/voigt_1Mbps.flvlightbox=truelightboxcaption=A Talk with Cynthia Voigtlightboxpreview=images/stories/highbw.gifwidth=400height=300displayheight=300playlist=none{/mgmediabot2}{/njaccess} {njaccess 0,29}Like what you see? Click here to Register for ourFree 2-Week Trial and get unlimited viewing of this program!{/njaccess} {njaccess 18,36}Thank you for Registering for our Free 2-Week Trial.We hope you'll decide to become a full-time member!{/njaccess}{njaccess 38}We're sorry, but your Free 2-Week Trial has ended.You will need to purchase a subscription to view this entire program.{/njaccess}{njaccess 39}We're sorry, but your subscription has ended. We hope you will come back and join us again soon!{/njaccess} Topics for classroom discussion and assignments:Cynthia Voight talks about living on a remote island with few luxuries such as electricity.  Brainstorm with others in your class about living on a remote island. What might you like about it? What might you not like? Write a fictional account of life on such an island.Short  essay questions:   How would you describe Dicey?What is Cynthia’s Voight’s favorite part of writing?What’s her least favorite part of writing?In Dicey’s story, Grahm says to Dicey, “You can reach out to people you care about.” Write what this means to you.Teachers and librarians, submit your own topics:If you're a teacher or librarian, you're invited to submit a topic for classroom discussion or an interesting assignment. If we add your submission to the list above, you'll receive a Professional Letter of Recognition from us along with a goodconversations.com gift.Click here for more information.

  Theodore Taylor explains how he came to write the bestseller, The Cay. He also talks about the start of his writing career, his modern classic The Trouble with Tuck, and takes the viewer on a tour of his hometown, Laguna Beach, California. -20 mins {mgmediabot2}path=images/stories/video_clips/taylor.flvlightbox=true lightboxcaption=A Talk with Theodore Taylor - Demo Cliplightboxpreview=images/stories/demobw.gifwidth=400height=300displayheight=300playlist=none{/mgmediabot2} {njaccess 18,25,36,37}{mgmediabot2}path=images/stories/videos/taylor_384K.flvlightbox=true lightboxcaption=A Talk with Theodore Taylorlightboxpreview=images/stories/lowerbw.gifwidth=400height=300displayheight=300playlist=none{/mgmediabot2}{mgmediabot2}path=images/stories/videos/taylor_1Mbps.flvlightbox=truelightboxcaption=A Talk with Theodore Taylorlightboxpreview=images/stories/highbw.gifwidth=400height=300displayheight=300playlist=none{/mgmediabot2}{/njaccess} {njaccess 0,29}Like what you see? Click here to Register for ourFree 2-Week Trial and get unlimited viewing of this program!{/njaccess} {njaccess 18,36}Thank you for Registering for our Free 2-Week Trial.We hope you'll decide to become a full-time member!{/njaccess}{njaccess 38}We're sorry, but your Free 2-Week Trial has ended.You will need to purchase a subscription to view this entire program.{/njaccess}{njaccess 39}We're sorry, but your subscription has ended. We hope you will come back and join us again soon!{/njaccess} Topics for classroom discussion and assignments:Theodore Taylor believes that luck has always been part of his life. He explains that when he finds a coin, he tapes it onto his typewriter for good luck. Discuss a time in your life when you experienced good luck.The author thinks that most good stories are based on true events. For example, The Cay is based on a Dutch ship that was torpedoed. Ttake a real event from the newspaper, or from your own lives, and use it as a basis for a fictional story.Some people believe that “you make your own luck.” What does this mean?Teachers and librarians, submit your own topics:If you're a teacher or librarian, you're invited to submit a topic for classroom discussion or an interesting assignment. If we add your submission to the list above, you'll receive a Professional Letter of Recognition from us along with a goodconversations.com gift.Click here for more information.