Spilling Ink Day 12

"Title Tattle" is the name of Section 12 in Spilling Ink.  In this short little section, Ellen Potter talks about ways to find a good title.  She says that sometimes titles give themselves to writers, while other times it is more difficult to come up with one.  She shares a few humorous conversations about titles that she and Ellen Mazer discussed prior to naming Spilling Ink.  I thought it was funny that "Chicken Nugget Skies" actually came up!

Ms. Potter mentions her book SLOB, which my daughter Emily just read.  When she read about it in Spilling Ink, the title intrigued her, so she read reviews online.  Then she put it on hold from the library.  It came in on Friday and she was finished on Saturday! She says she will write her own review about it here, on her blog. I asked her about the title, and she said that it means something very different from what you think it means and that you don't really find that out until the end.  So clever. 

When elementary students write, they often want to give their stories titles like, "The Day I Lost My First Tooth" or "When My Mom Put Me in Time Out for Coloring on the Walls". I once heard a presenter at a workshop tell kids not to give away the punchline before they tell the joke.  If they tell what the story is about in the title or the first paragraph, the reader already knows what the story is about and there is no incentive to read further.  I thought that was a great way to share this concept with kids.

I thought it would be fun to take a look at my bookshelf and share a few interesting titles....

I forgot to photograph the best title on my shelf...The Thang That Ate My Grandaddy's Dog...a book my dad read and recommended.  With a title like that, can you believe I haven't read it yet?  It's on my "to-read" list. 

What interesting titles are on your shelf?