Tag Archives: Mary Jo Fresch

Dec 6 2018

A new book project in the hopper

Hi everyone,

After a wait of several months, Mary Jo Fresch and I have received a response to a proposal we made for a book for classroom teachers. The answer is yes and a contract is under way. Mary Jo and I reviewed the comments and suggestions that came with the notice of acceptance and now we’re eager to get started writing the rest of the book.

We haven’t set a schedule yet but I’d say we’ll shoot for late spring or early summer. We’ll be working with teachers and students so we need to finish those elements of the book before the end of the spring semester in 2019.

It feels good to become involved in a new project with Mary Jo! This will make our seventh book together. Of course this isn’t a done deal until we work out details of the contract and tie up other loose ends, but I have high hopes we’ll get those done before long. We also have a proposal at another publisher so we keep expecting word on that one any day.

Dec 3 2018

Yellow

Hi everyone,

Haven’t written an original “yellow” poem yet but for now here’s one from a book for Pre-K children I wrote with Mary Jo Fresch for Shell Education called LEARNING THROUGH POETRY. In that book, and four others that accompanied it, I began with a single sound and wrote a poem inspired by it. Here’s the one for yellow. Mary Jo recorded one of her grandsons as he reacted as she read the poem. It’s sensational.

Yellow Y

A yak walked into a yoyo store
And yelled, “I want a yoyo!”

“Why do you want a yoyo, Yak?”
Yelled back the yoyo fellow.

”A yoyo’s yummy!” yelled the yak,
“But only if it’s yellow.
Blue ones make my tummy hurt,
Oh yes, they make me bellow.”

And then he gulped a yellow yoyo.
“Yuck!” yelled the fellow.

(c) 2013 David L. Harrison
from Learning Through Poetry (Shell Education)

Nov 16 2018

Off and running

Hi everyone,

What began in a rough patch turned out to be a good week. I found the groove I needed for the new book proposal and by the end of today I’ll have five good poems ready to go. A decent poem per day makes for a successful week. Three are in verse and two are free verse. Sandy, my hawk-eyed first reader, suggested two spots to reconsider, which is what I’ll do this morning. After that I’ll send them along to my writing partner, Laura Robb, and we’ll get back to our editor.

On another front, Mary Jo Fresch and I finished the proposal on another book and sent it on its way. Our editor was just leaving for a conference so we’ll be waiting a while to hear back on that one.

Jul 24 2018

ILA report

Hi everyone,

Home from Austin with many new good memories in spite of heat that reached 105-109 for record setting daily highs. Attendance was down somewhat but still several thousand people from here and abroad were there and it was time well spent.

I was grateful to Sandy for going with me and I know that Mary Jo was glad that Hank came too. The four of us have a good time together and when conference work kept Mary Jo and me busy, Sandy and Hank amused themselves sightseeing and shopping.

Mary Jo Fresch and I enjoyed doing a Facebook Live broadcast that has been viewed more then 8,400 times already, and on Sunday afternoon we had excellent attendance for our two-hour workshop. Also hooked up with Laura Robb to discuss a book we might do together and touched base with Glenda Nugent about the poetry article I’m writing for Missouri Reader. Had a good visit with Su Hutchens and talked her into contributing to my article about her experiences in using poetry in the classroom.

My thanks to the folks at Teacher Created Materials for their generous support and lovely breakfast on Sunday morning, and to my friends at Scholastic for their usual stellar author reception on Saturday evening as well as for putting us on Facebook Live and proving a signing time/space at their display area.