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.

Crater Lake

Hi everyone,

We’ve had a busy week playing with Jeff and Jennifer. One of many highlights was Crater Lake. I found a babe there that made the whole trip even better!

Home again

Hi everyone,
Spent Saturday on the road and decided to dine in that night (in Grenada, Mississippi) on cheese, crackers, and dip. Not the best meal, but not so bad after so many hours in the car, and safer than going out. We arrived in Springfield yesterday afternoon. Two months in Florida were good but it’s always wonderful to turn into our driveway again and see Goose Lake waiting. We were blessed to have Robin and Jeff join us for the last of our stay at the condo to help make new memories. And Jeff drove all 800+ miles of the trip back to Springfield. Talk about a gift!

Today it’s back in the wheel for me. Progress so far on the Rasinski/Fresch books has been steady and on schedule, but I’ll have several activities in the coming weeks that may slow things a bit. As announced earlier, I won’t be posting much for a while but will be in touch as I can.

Not my fault. Fish like him better.

Hi everyone,

Jeff: 2 redfish; David: 0.

Still smiling

Hi everyone,

I had a fine day yesterday celebrating my birthday with Sandy, Robin, and Jeff. Thank you, Tim, for loaning us your wife, and thank you, Jennifer, for loaning us your husband. And thank you to everybody who took the time to send me birthday wishes. I did the best I could to keep up but if I missed thanking you, forgive me. I loved each and every one.