Working on a new program

Hi everyone,

I’m working with STEPHANIE SMALLWOOD at The Library Center in Springfield on a new program for April. I’m developing a manuscript about the sounds we hear at night, which made me think that kids (and adults) might enjoy an evening learning more about the creatures that make them. This picture is from a program I gave about The Dirt Book when it came out last year. We had a lot of fun that evening!

Popular musician JUDY DOMENY and our friends from the Springfield Conservation Nature Center will join us for the evening to help us identify some of the sounds. Kids will learn facts about local nocturnal animals, enjoy stories and poems and even get to make some night sounds themselves!

Can you think of any songs I can pass along to Judy for the program? Any other ideas on how I can make the program more interesting for the kids that night? Maybe contests to see who can make the best imitations of a cricket? A tree frog? A katydid? Thanks for any ideas you might suggest. April will be before you know it

For the 3,519th time…

Hi everyone,

Today is my 3,519th post on this blog spot that Kathy Temean created for me in 2009. Bill Johnson at Highlight and others had urged me to get a website so I looked around for designers. The first note I sent to friends for recommendations was Ralph Fletcher. He, Ruth Culham, Rebecca Dotlich, Eileen Spinelli, and others gave me names and tips, and I eventually wound up going with Kathy. When Kathy completed my website, she said I needed a blog. I fought against it, lost, and here I sit, 3,519 posts later, saying for the 3,519th time, “Hi everyone.”

Today I look forward to a Zoom meeting with Kathleen O’Dell (Public Relations Director) and Stephanie Smallwood (acting Director of Children’s Services) at Springfield-Greene County Public Libraries to discuss what I’d like to do for a summer reading project with the district. I hope to do one or more videos providing tips about reading and writing poetry for the summer reading program. Perhaps I can use the videos for other programs elsewhere. I’m eager for the visit.

Yesterday, thanks to the expert direction of Marjorie Bicknell, Philadelphia Regional Rep for Dramatists Guild of America, Sandy Asher and I presenting our reading of JESSE AND GRACE. It was the first time a children’s work has been presented in the Footlights series. We drew a record number of registrations, for which we were grateful. For those of you who watched the performance, thank you! The event was recorded so before long we’ll be able to share it with teachers, librarians, and others who might be interested. More about that soon.