Mary Amato

Writing with Humor, Heart, & Grit

Introducing Lucy McGee

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The Lucy McGee Book Series is a collection of books (best for ages 7-10) that feature a girl named Lucy and her friends and family. Lucy is a budding young songwriter and a ukulele player. Each book contains 3-4 songs along with lots of fun extras, such as mp3s, lyric/chord booklets, instructional videos, and more here.

Four books are planned for the Lucy series. The first is out; the second book will be available June 4, 2019.  You can find order the books at your favorite local independent bookstore, or on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Workshops, Classes, and Events

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Learn with me

For more info about any of these events, please email info (at) maryamato (dot) com.

Mary Amato’s Singing and Songwriting with/for Baby

Three Wednesday nights 6:15-7:15 pm September 5, 12, 19 at College Park Arts Exchange in College Park, MD. Note: This class will be offered again at the same time on November 28, Dec 5, Dec 12.

Explore the power and poignancy of your own voice in this special class for new parents and parents-to-be. We’ll learn chants and lullabies–some designed to soothe baby, others designed to soothe you! We’ll also learn songwriting techniques and each create our own signature songs. No musical experience necessary. For expecting and/or new moms and/or dads. You may bring the baby, but no older siblings or walking toddlers, please.

Mary Amato’s Songwriting Breakthrough

Three Wednesday nights 7:30-8:45 pm September 5, 12, 19  at College Park Arts Exchange in College Park, MD. Note: This class will be offered again at the same time on November 28, Dec 5, Dec 12.

Have you always wanted to write a song but have never given yourself permission? Or are you an experienced songwriter stuck with a stubborn case of writer’s block? Or are you a well-seasoned songwriter who wants a challenge? During this class, we will work with highly specific prompts to write one or more songs (either lyrics only or lyrics with music)–not from our own life experiences, but rather by adopting another point of view. Class will be tailored to meet the needs of participants with and without musical experience. Adults and teens welcome.

Creative Writing Skype Classes

Each three-session seminar will include focus on a different theme, such as character, dialogue, conflict, etc. Each session will include discussion, facilitated real-time writing, tips, strategies, and feedback. All of the seminar themes can be applied to the work of novelists, poets, essayists, playwrights, and songwriters. Since Skype sessions are one-on-one, any skill level from professional to beginner is welcome. Email info (at) maryamato (dot) com.

Songwriting Skype Classes

Each three-session seminar will include focus on a different type of song structure. No musical experience necessary and you don’t have to be able to play an instrument. Since Skype sessions are one-on-one, any skill level from professional to beginner is welcome. Email info (at) maryamato (dot) com.

One-time Workshops and Events

Page to Stage Workshop and Performance with College Park Arts Exchange

Join leaders Mary Amato and John Feffer and fellow writers and theater-lovers for a day-long mini playwriting workshops. During the day we’ll write short scenes exploring character, voice, and conflict. In the evening, we’ll perform the work we create in front of a live audience. This event is for writers, poets, storytellers, songwriters, comedians, and actors who want to learn more about the process of creating and giving voice to characters and who want an opportunity to hear/see work come alive in front of an audience. More info to come.

Uke-making Camp with Gadgetlab

Make your own cool (and quality) ukulele and learn how to play it. Gadgetlab’s Karen Giacopuzzi and Mary Amato team up to teach this camp. This camp is full.

Songwriting 101 Workshop with Carpe Diem Arts

Learn songwriting techniques in this 2-hour workshop taught by Mary Amato. No musical experience necessary and you don’t have to play an instrument. This class has passed.

Student Open Mic

This is your chance to sing your song, read your poem, or perform stand-up in front of a warm, friendly crowd. Potluck. Please bring a dish and whatever you’d like to drink. This will be an outdoor stage. No rain date. No payment required, but you must register to attend. This event has passed.

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Open Mic Night at Westminster Cemetery

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book-guitarNotes

Even Ghosts Need the Chance to Speak the Truth, Don’t They?

“Sam finally allows himself to look up. He and Lacy lock eyes, and a joyous warmth rushes through him.”

Meet Lacy and Sam. She is a sixteen-year-old wannabe slam poet who wakes up in an historic cemetery–confused. He is a 17-year-old Civil War soldier whose job it is to teach new ghosts the strict rules of there after and to warn her about Suppression, a punishment even worse than death. Lacy desperately wants to leave the stifling cemetery and find out how she died, but every soul is obligated to perform a job. Given the task of providing entertainment, Lacy organizes an open mic. With the help of Sam and other new allies, will the open mic become a chance for the sad, frightened residents of the cemetery to finally express themselves? WARNING: This novel contains profanity as well as sensitive and complex themes related to death, dying, alcohol abuse, and physical abuse, and is for mature teens and adults.

What Makes the Book Unique?

    • Hybrid play-novel form. I started this as a play and decided to incorporate various play writing elements into the process, but did not follow the rules of either form.
    • Narrator voice and direct address.
    • Mix of humor and seriousness.
    • Historical setting. The play-novel takes place in Westminster Cemetery, the actual cemetery where Edgar Allan Poe is buried.
    • Edgar Allan Poe, his Raven, and his family. Fans of Poe’s twisted tales will meet a newly imagined Poe and a trio of his relations.

    Pre-Publication Praise for the Book

    “Amato (Guitar Notes, 2012) is no stranger to playing with form and genre…a unique read that fans of Poe, poetry, or stage plays will find something to grab onto.” –Booklist

    “The resulting alchemy capitalizes on the strengths of both media to create a unique, fully-realized world… Quoth the Raven, “Encore.”–Kirkus

    Author Notes about the Writing Process

    Find out more about my writing process and watch a video about one of my revision exercises in this link.

    Author Notes about the Research Process

    Find out more about my research process in this link to come.

    Essays/Interviews/Blogposts related to the book

    Listening to Old Ghosts: The Haunting Influence of Our Town and Spoon River Anthology published in Teen Librarian Toolbox.

    Pinterest Page

    See my gallery of images used in writing and researching.

Potomac Elementary STEM Songwriting Residency

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What do students do when they write a song?

  • Research/brainstorm (it’s okay to be messy)
  • Write rough draft
  • Recognize and follow patterns
  • Use repetition
  • Experiment with rhyme
  • Use rhythm
  • Revise
  • Make sure each song has a surprise
  • Rehearse

Students at Potomac Elementary explored lots of elements of songwriting in my songwriting residency. Thanks to teachers, staff, PTA, and first-grade students for all the enthusiasm.

Our subjects were math and science. Teachers Ms. Siegel and Mrs. Li gave me a list of topics that first graders study. I chose a different topic with each class: Magnets, Soil, and Measurement.

Here are the songs the students wrote. When you listen to the songs, pay attention to the pattern, the rhymes, the rhythm, and the meaning.

Download the pdf of the You Need Me song about soil with lyrics and chords. Sing and play along with the song.

Download the pdf of the Magnet Magnet song with lyrics and chords. Sing and play along with the song.


Download the pdf of the Ruler Power song about soil with lyrics and chords. Sing and play along with the song.

First we did brainstorming to write down all the things about the topic that we know. Sometimes questions would arise and we had to do research to make sure we were correct. Then we used our brainstorm to write a rough draft. We had to experiment with different rhymes and rhythms to make sure the song made sense and sounded good to our ears. We had to recognize a pattern in our first verse and then apply that pattern to the rest of the verses. We decided that a good song has magnetic properties—it sticks to your brain!

Besides learning a lot about songwriting and writing original songs, we also learned about collaboration and about democracy (we had to vote on different ideas throughout the process).

I loved seeing how, at PES, kids are encouraged to respectfully disagree. As we wrote our rough drafts, sometimes a statement would be made about the science by one student, and another student would challenge the accuracy of the statement. This prompted us to stop the songwriting process and do a little research to determine accuracy before we continued. Bravo!

Since this residency was a part of the science block, I also introduced a question: can we make musical instruments out of magnets? What about soil or sand? We experimented to get results. Which kind of particle of sand do you think would be the loudest in a shaker? Course or fine?

Parents, here’s what you can do at home.

  1. Continue the folk song tradition of taking a song you already know and changing the words. This is a great activity for car rides! As our warm-up, we took a folk song that uses math and changed the words to make it a little more challenging. Substituting new words for old words in a folk song is a great way to encourage songwriting. When you substitute words, you have to make sense and you have to remember the new ones. It takes focus and concentration!

50 bottles of juice on the shelf.

50 bottles of juice.

Take ten down and pass them around

40 bottles of juice on the shelf.

2. When you are listening to a song with your kids, ask:

  • Is there rhyme?
  • What’s the pattern of the song?
  • What’s the rhythm of the song?
  • What’s the emotion of the song?
  • Does the rhythm and melody fit the emotion/meaning?
  • What’s the main idea of the song?
  • Is there a chorus (a part that repeats)?
  • Is there repetition?
  • Is there a surprise?

3. If your child writes a song for fun at home, encourage him or her. As first graders, they might write silly songs. Their songs might not even make complete sense. That is okay. Please don’t try to make your child’s song perfect. Comment on something positive about the song. Does it have rhyme? Does it have rhythm? At this age, experimentation, play, and fluidity are important.

4. Add a ritual of making up songs together or singing songs that you know before dinner, while you’re cooking, when you’re stuck in traffic.

5. Sing and play the original songs above! I’ll have a new series of chapter books out in September that is about a songwriting club in an elementary school. The books will come with songs that are perfect for elementary school students. Happy reading and keep singing!

 

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Rock Creek Valley Residency

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What a great school! I loved seeing all students in third through fifth grades for an assembly and then getting the chance to do writing workshops with fourth graders. We focused on developing character and wrote monologues about an unusual day in the life of… whatever animal they wanted to be. I encouraged the writers to put clues in their work, but NOT to say outright what kind of animal they were. Every student wrote and got the chance to perform a portion of their stories. To model how students could take a piece of writing and create an audio story, we collaborated on recording one story from each class–complete with sound effects.

Great job, kids!

A huge thanks to the fourth grade team and to the PTA for coordinating this year’s creative writing residency at Rock Creek Valley Elementary School.Special thanks to parent Shauna Hill and to teacher Rebecca McNiece for all the communication and coordination. Listen to the three stories below. (If you can’t see them, your computer is blocking. Try https://soundcloud.com/mary-amato-author/sets/rock-creek-valley-2018.


Can you guess the animal who love waffles in this story?

Can you guess the animal who is learning to fly and hunt?

Can you guess the animal who is trying to impress the King of the Jungle?

Alexander Hamilton Elementary School

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Thanks to students, staff and parents who welcomed me to the Alexander Hamilton Elementary School for a busy day of author visits. I loved getting the chance to be on the AH morning news show. Another treat was the special lunch with student writers. The stories they wrote were interesting, funny, and surprising. Keep writing! Special thanks to librarian Linda Murphy for all her preparation and planning.

Thomas Jefferson ES (NJ)

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An enormous thank you to the PTO of TJ Elementary School in Morristown, NJ, to Mark Fluck, librarian extraordinaire, and to all the students and staff of this grades 3-5 school. I loved making up funny stories with all the grade levels and sharing the excitement of writing. Thanks also to the PTO for organizing the book sale. AND…drum roll, please… Mr. Fluck created a collaborative journal, based on my book Please Write in this Book, so now students can add their own writing! TJ students, make sure to read what I wrote in your journal and have fun writing!

Ask-an-Author Pop-up

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As part of the Final Friday Art Walk in Hyattsville, author Mary Amato will be at an Ask-an-Author Pop-up at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center on Friday, October 27th from 5:00-7pm.

Pop in to check out PAAC and to meet an author.

At Mary Amato’s Ask-an-Author Pop-up, you can:

• Ask Mary how she writes her award-winning fiction for children and young adults
• Take a peek inside her writer’s notebook
• Learn about the publishing process
• Find out what songwriting and fiction writing have in common
• Enter for your chance to win an autographed copy of one of her books!

The Final Friday Art Walk is a community event celebrating Hyattsville artists and businesses. Start at the murals on Route 1 (between Jefferson and Hamilton) and follow a path through the alleys to see new art and meet artists all the way down to Art Works. Businesses will have goodies for adults and kids. Art spaces will have craft-making fun!

Pyramid Atlantic is a book arts/printmaking center located at 4318 Gallatin Street, Hyattsville, MD 20781.
Mary Amato has published 16 books for kids and teens and has three new books on the way. She also writes poems, plays, songs, and essays for adults. www.maryamato.com.

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Humor, Heart, & Grit

I give voice to the funny, sad, messy, and wondrous stories of life, especially the stories of children and young adults. My mission: each book has humor, heart, and grit. If you are a teen and/or you're looking for info about my books and music for older readers, please check out my www.thrumsociety.com site.
Learn more about my mission and resources.

Appearances and Private Lessons

See my appearance list and find out about private lessons via Skype or in person.

I play Luna Ukes & Guitars