MGOC Contributor: Teffanie Thompson White

TEFFANIE THOMPSON WHITE

EXCERPT from "And the Award Goes To..." by Teffanie Thompson White in Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction

Frederic Melcher saw the need in 1921 to encourage children’s authors for their gifts to the literary community. He proposed an accolade and named it after eighteenth century bookseller, John Newbery.

Once a year, since 1922, the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Librarian Association (ALA - www.ala.org), presents an American children’s book with the Newbery Medal and names the runner-ups as honor recipients. The book must have been published in English in the previous year. Original published work should have appropriate style, quality presentation and exceptional development of the elements of literature.

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Teffanie Thompson White played with pen in hand. When pen was absent, she scratched words on ashen legs. Teffanie has worked as a tutor, teacher and administrator to high school students. She completed the Institute of Children's Literature and received a Master's degree in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. Through these programs Teffanie created several writings for children to include her thesis, middle grade novel, Dirt. Her picture book manuscripts, Bug Talk and For Tents and Ribbons, have been adapted into onstage ballet performances. Teffanie co-authors and co-publishes pictureless books. She lives in Texas with her children, Imhotep and Halima.

MGOC Contributor News: Pictureless Books Videos

Many Genres, One Craft contributors Adrea L. Peters and Teffanie Thompson White, owners of Pictureless Books, just released some wonderful new videos:

MGOC Contributor News: Adrea Peters and Teffanie White Launch Pictureless Books AlphaTapp App

COULD A WORD, JUST O N E WORD, BETTER A DAY?

A B S O L U T E L Y !

Pictureless Books, a Kindle e-book series by co-authors Teffanie T. White and Adrea L. Peters that plays with the alphabet to inspire humans and honor the immense power of well-chosen words, launches AlphaTapp App for iPhones, iPads and iPods today. The AlphaTapp App features alphabetically organized vocabularies that uplift, surprise, teach, question, provoke and pay homage to positive words, and will allow users to:

Spell a word to create a good word anagram or acronym
Email an entire good word or love card to someone special
Post a word to a friend’s Facebook page or on their own
Shuffle or Shake the deck for a surprisingly good word

The App is based upon Pictureless Books’ series of science, math, wellness, art, and learning inspired e-books, and their encouraging alphabets.

I is for Invigorated and I is for Inspiration (the i m a g i n a t i o n series)
W is for Walnut (w e l l n e s s series)
E is for El Nino (the e x p l o r e series)
C is for Canvas (the c a n v a s series)
A is for Apple and A is for Angel (the a n g e l series)
N is for Never Night and Ur Txtbk (the n o t h i n g series)

Each Pictureless Book is individually priced at $2.99 on Amazon.com. AlphaTapp, which bundles the categories into six digital decks of cards, is also $2.99 for a promotional period.

The words in each deck and e-book are arranged to emphasize the word in its purest form, without pictures. “We’ve chosen to promote imagination by emphasizing words, one letter at a time. We hope this will inspire the player’s mind to wander and conjure very personal images and meanings,” White said.

White and Peters are often asked how they select their words. “Beyond loving words and avoiding obvious new-age inspiration that’s been done before, all of our words must pass through a filter: Is it fun? Does it feel good? Does it ignite my imagination?” said Peters.

White used the idea for good words as inspiration more than a decade ago when she was teaching in inner city Houston. After months of negative energy in the classroom, White resolved to change her life and theirs purely through new vocabulary.

“We began using positive, inventive words to end each class,” said White. “Every student had to come up with a positive new vocabulary word each day – but no trite words or repeats were allowed. The entire exercise was life-affirming for every person in the room.”

White allowed this “big idea” to marinate for years until she met co-author Adrea Peters at Seton Hill’s writing popular fiction program in 2005. Peters brought White’s vision to life through a hardcover Pictureless Books prototype that she designed as a gift for White. Together, they imagined and then created a book series that would be accessible, affordable and environmentally responsible.

Find Pictureless on the web:

Blog: http://picturelessbooks.blogspot.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pictureless

Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/pb-books

iTunes app store: http://tinyurl.com/3lbe39y