Hi everyone,
I’m happy to say that TIM RASINSKI and I have just accepted a contract offer on a new book. We can’t tell you a lot about it yet but it will involve numerous poets and we have a due date for the completed manuscript of July 1, 2024. SYLVIA VARDELL has agreed to write the introduction.
My part of the dedication will be to ANGELA KNIGHT, librarian-extraordinaire at David Harrison Elementary School and Holland Elementary School. The idea for the book was inspired by Angela.
Hi everyone,
Last Friday a lot of cameras were busy and I’ve been reviewing them all with great pleasure. Son JEFF was there and provided many great shots. KATHLEEN O’DELL used her experienced eye to catch candid moments that I love. TERESA BLEDSOE added a trove of excellent pictures to my growing collection of mementos from a day that meant so much to me. Following are two pictures each from those three in the order mentioned.
To all who played a role in making me feel so loved and so much at home, I am most grateful. To all the kids at David Harrison Elementary School, you always make me feel happy. I’m already looking forward to the next time I get to see you. Your friend, David
Hi everyone,
Yesterday I loved every minute of my time at David Harrison Elementary School. Superintendent of Schools, GRANITA LATHAN was there and gave out packets of free books to every child. I learned later that she has done that for every 1st – 5th grade student in the entire district!
I was given a seat of honor at the front of the gymnasium where I could wave at the kids as they came in. I was then presented with two books, one made by each of the 4th grade classes and their teachers, JAMIE BAUMANN and SHANNON BOSSING plus the super talent of art teacher KEVIN ZIMMERMAN.
Each book, titled, Our Stories, is a compilation of information (plus picture) of every graduating 4th grade student at Harrison, the first editions of what is going to become an annual tradition. The books are dedicated to me. Another one of those moments at Harrison that stick in my heart.
Here I am reading one of the books as Dr. Lathan reads the other book.
This picture is of librarian (and mastermind of the books), ANGELA KNIGHT, with principal SHAWN DEWITT and superintendent Lathan. I’m holding a cuddly version of a huskie, the school mascot.
Harrison’s wonderful principal, Shawn DeWitt, invited me to be there on August 22 for the first day of school this fall. I’ll be sitting outside the front door to welcome each student to David Harrison Elementary School. All I can say is, WOW!
Hi everyone,
Imagine my delight when students at Harrison not only took a Story Walk on campus (created from my book, I WANT AN APPLE), thanks to super-librarian ANGELA KNIGHT,
but afterward wrote hundreds of acrostic poems about spring and sent them to me. Those kids never cease to thrill me. Here’s my thank-you poem to them.
Dear Students at David Harrison Elementary School, Sure do love you, one and all, Poets with the right stuff, Readers down each Harrison hall, It’s Harrison Huskies – Ruff! Ruff! Notes from you? I had a ball! Grateful? I can’t say enough. Your loving friend, David Harrison
Hi everyone,
Home again. It was lovely spending the past seven weeks in Florida, but sooner or later one has to come home. We arrived late last night, read through a basket of accumulated mail, and tumbled into bed. Today it’s back to reality, as in bill paying, making appointments, etc.
The big hit in the mail for me was a packet of sweet notes from students at DAVID HARRISON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. After they took their story walk, featuring I WANT AN APPLE — thanks to fantastic librarian ANGELA KNIGHT — they went to their rooms and wrote to me. I can’t wait to read each one.
I also caught up with an interview article in SPRINGFIELD BUSINESS JOURNAL, written by KAREN CRAIGO about three local authors, NANCY ALLEN, SUSAN KEENE, and me. Nicely done and I am flattered to be in the Journal.
One meeting this week is with the team who will join me at The Library Center on April 19 to present a program called Night Sounds. The two pictures below are from a previous program at The Library Center. The folks there are wonderful to work with. Here’s how the upcoming event is describes.
Showing how frogs hop.
You sort of had to be there.
On warm summer nights, if we step outside we may hear a symphony of sounds — whistles, whirs, clicks and cries. What makes these voices we hear in the night? Bestselling author David Harrison, our friends from the Springfield Conservation Nature Center, students from Springfield Public Schools WOLF program, and students from David Harrison Elementary School will explore these sounds and the creatures that make them. Kids will learn facts about local nocturnal animals, enjoy stories and poems and even get to make some night sounds themselves!
Children's Author David L. Harrison's Blog 