A good trip

Hi everyone,

Sandy and I got in from Salt Lake City yesterday afternoon after a good conference with American Association of School Librarians. It was well attended by librarians and other educators from around the country and I was happy to be invited. My thanks to Holiday House for sponsoring me and to Senior Publicist Sara DiSAlvo in particular for being there, manning the booth when I signed, and hosting a terrific party for Josh Allen and me on Friday night.

A big added bonus was spending time with Jerry Pallotta and old pals Roland Smith and Michael Spradlin. The beat goes on and writers are still doing their best to find opportunities to present their work, traveling wherever necessary to do it.

Kate Coombs and I presented on Saturday afternoon with librarian Amanda Jones as our moderator. Our talk, “Take a Walk on the Wild Side, Connecting Young Readers to Nature,” was well attended and lasted 50 minutes. My thanks to Amanda and Kate for a very enjoyable experience.

A good week

Hi everyone,

A short week but a good one. We returned from Oregon on Tuesday after a great trip with Jeff and Jennifer that included Portland, Crater Lake, Sunriver, and Cannon Beach. Spectacular views, wonderful food, and loving company. Couldn’t ask for more or better.

I’m twenty work-days away from my Fairfax deadline and feel confident I can make it. A lot of things are going undone for now but it won’t be much longer before I can return to a more normal routine. This past week I agreed on terms for an old story of mine, “The Little Boy’s Secret,” to appear in a U.K. HarperCollins anthology for 7-year-olds. The story originally came out in THE BOOK OF GIANT STORIES, co-published by American Heritage Press in the U.S.A. and Jonathan Caple in England in 1972.

I’m set for a virtual return on October 30 to The BookMark in Neptune Beach, Florida. This time I’m introducing the new book, I WANT AN APPLE. I look forward to it.

I began sketching notes for a video I promised to make as part of the Fairfax project. I need to make it before the end of November. Mary Jo Fresch, Laura Robb, Tim Rasinski, and I made plans to rehearse a 60-minute webinar for California Reading Conference that will be broadcast live on November 18.

Next week I speak at American Association of School Librarians at its national conference in Salt Lake City. Kate Coombs and I will discuss science/nature-based poetry for young people. Our presentation, “Take a Walk on the Wild Side: Connecting Young Readers to Nature,” will be moderated by award winning librarian Amanda Jones from Louisiana. I’ll speak on the subject in general but with emphasis on THE DIRT BOOK.

Time to get to work.

Speaking at AASL

Hi everyone,

I’ve been invited to speak on a science poetry panel called “Our Amazing World” at the 2021 American Association for School Librarians’ conference. I’m told that the publication of THE DIRT BOOK is part of the reason for the invitation Right now, AASL is scheduled to be in-person from Oct 21-23, 2021 in Salt Lake City.

Last year all conferences were cancelled or held in pieces online. I’m very happy for this opportunity to get back in front of a live audience. I don’t know yet the names of the other panelists but look forward to learning who they are.

If AASL is a conference you attend, I hope you’ll make a note to go hear the panel. If you know someone else who might might be interested, I hope you’ll share the information with them. When more details are released, I’ll let you know.