The weekend’s mail brought my first samples of the new book with GRACE MACCARONE at Holiday House. A Tree is a Community is part of a series called “Books for a Better Earth — a collection designed to inspire young people to become active, knowledgeable participants in caring for the planet they live on. ”
The artist of this beautiful book is KATE COSGROVE, my wonderfully talented partner on two other titles with Holiday House.
I’ve dedicated A Tree is a Community to “The poets in my 2011 poetry workshop, now good friends and colleagues: JOY FRELINGER, CORY CORRADO, JEANNE POLAND, SUSAN CARMICHAEL, REBECCA MENSHEN, KEN SLESARIK, HEIDI MORDHORST, and CAROL-ANN HOYTE, with affection.”
The text is a free verse poem that begins, “In spring,/the rain/ROARS!/GUSHES!/POURS/down through that/rich,/dark/soil.”
A Tree is a Community will be published on October 8, but you can place orders for October shipment anytime. Its first review is a star from Kirkus.
Yesterday I learned that the first review of my upcoming book with Holiday House, A Tree is a Community, is a starred review from Kirkus. “Writing in animated free verse that calls urgently to be read aloud…An effervescent appreciation of all that trees do and are.” “And best of all, the poem ends, when spring comes round again, new seeds will drop so that ‘very soon / we will have / a fine new tree. / OH YES!’”
KATE COSGROVE illustrated the book, our third title together, and Kirkus loves her work too. “As small creatures crawl or flit through leafy boughs above in Cosgrove’s bustling, populous illustrations, two brown-skinned children below blow bubbles or peaceably share a rope swing in the cool shade.” Kate is the #1 New York Times bestselling illustrator of A Day With No Words by TIFFANY HAMMOND.
A Tree is a Community will be released on September 17, ten days after Charlesbridge publishes Wild Brunch, illustrated by GILES LAROCHE. Both books are on Amazon and can now be pre-ordered. Come on September!
On Christmas Eve day I received copies from Holiday House of I Want an Apple, How the Body Works in paperback. I didn’t know this was happening. If you aren’t familiar with this title, it was illustrated by DAVID CATROW and published in 2021. David has illustrated more than 60 books for children. She’s Wearing a Dead Bird on Her Head was selected as “The Year’s Best” by The New York Times. How Murray Saved Christmas was adapted into a 2014 animated television show and aired on NBC. David has also served as a visual developer for animated films, including Despicable Me and Horton Hears a Who.
School Library Journal said about the book: “This is not a book about the science of eating; it is about the poetry of bodily functions… This will make for a fun story time, where bodily functions can be the silliest.”
From The Horn Book: “This is a playful, simple look at our bodies’ inner workings for young children. . . . [Catrow’s ] illustrations are immediately recognizable with their eccentric details and exaggerated scale. . . . The spare text is just enough to introduce concepts of human anatomy to a preschool and early primary audience.”
From Kirkus Reviews: “The illustrations are whimsical and full of movement. . . . The message about body positivity will resonate with all ages. A playful introduction to the body parts.”
I Want an Apple was selected in 2021 by American Scientist for its list of 10 STEM-related books for all seasons. In spite of the reviews, the talented artist, and the recognition, the book still hasn’t found its audience and sales lag behind where I’d like to see them. Maybe the paperback edition priced at only $8.99 will help. Fingers crossed.
I hope today’s the day I finally make a video about The Dirt Book for a celebration on March 1 in El Paso, Texas. It’s a Bluebonnet event and authors with books on this year’s reading list are asked to send videos to greet the kids and talk about our book. I scripted what I want to say some time ago but I need a haircut (says my M.O.W.) and today I have an appointment to become more presentable. Here’s what I’m going to say on the video.
Hi Kids,
Thank you for letting me join you today to talk about my book. I got the idea for it by watching a robin hopping across our back yard. It paused, pecked at something, and hopped off with a worm dangling from its beak. I started thinking about other creatures that live down in the dirt where we can’t see them.
If we had a magic elevator to take us down and down and down where humans don’t go, I wondered what would we see. Who would we meet, down there in the dirt? My questions turned into a book, The Dirt Book, Poems About Animals that Live Beneath Our Feet.
Thank you for looking at my book and maybe reading it. My special thanks to that robin. It flew off, perhaps to some other yard. Perhaps it gave some other writer an idea. Perhaps, because of that bird, a new book is being written at this very moment. If you should see that bird, perhaps it will give you an idea too.
I’m happy to say that both of the presentations I was in at NCTE were well received. On Friday morning, MARY JO FRESCH and I spoke to a room filled to capacity with people sitting on the floor along the walls. We spoke about topics covered in our NCTE book, Empowering Students’ Knowledge of Vocabulary, Learning How Language Works, Grades 3-5.
On Saturday, Mary Jo, TIM RASINSKI, and I spoke about our Scholastic books, Partner Poems and Word Ladders for Building Foundational Literacy Skills, Grades K-2 and Grades 1-3. We had a good turnout but not a full house because the keynote speaker, TOM HANKS, was still speaking in the general assembly auditorium to an enormous crowd, including some who might otherwise have attended other sessions. Still, we had a good crowd and the stars of the show were HANK and Mary Jo Fresch’s five grandchildren who read some of the poems from the book. They were wonderful. Attendees adored them and so did we.
Also on Saturday, Tim, Mary Jo, and I signed books at the Scholastic booth. While sitting there, greeting teachers and listening to their requests for other books, we had an idea for a new one we might do. On the plane ride home I began sketching out some thoughts, and since then we’ve resumed the conversation. We might be making a proposal fairly soon.
During the Children’s Awards Banquet, the eight people at each sponsored table stood up and yelled a chant they’d made up on the spot about their host author and or his/her book. When it came time for my table, my gang stood, held up their free copy of The Dirt Book, and yelled, “Read dirty books! Ready dirty books! Read dirty books!” I may be biased, but I thought it was the best chant in the auditorium! My thanks to Holiday House for sponsoring me. And my thanks to SANDY for being there with me to make the conference experience complete.
Went to several parties, visited with some old friends, waved at others. All in all, a very good conference. My thanks to Holiday House, Shell Publishing, and Scholastic for helping get me there.
Children's Author David L. Harrison's Blog 