Dishing The Dirt in Texas

Hi everyone,

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.

The Dirt Book out in paperback

Hi everyone,

Yesterday a box was delivered with samples of The Dirt Book in a paperback edition. What a surprise! It comes at a good time because the hardback is on this year’s master reading list for the Texas Bluebonnet Award and this way a lot more families may add a copy to the book budget.

Another reason I like this version is because some nice things have happened to the original since it came out in 2021 and two of them now appear on the cover of the paperback: Outstanding Science Trade Book , National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and Children’s Book Council (CBC); and Notable Books – Best Poetry and Verse Novels for Kids, 2022, National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE). And of course KATE COSGROVE’S wonderful artwork leaps off the cover (and throughout the book) at you. Kate has had her own share of high recognition for her masterful illustrations. And to think, she and I are at work on another book for 2024!

Some other kinds of recognition received by The Dirt Book include

•	Named as one of eleven “Can’t Miss” poetry books on “2021 Poetry: Versification for the Masses,” for School Library Journal, 2021
•	Art from the book displayed in New York City at The Society of Illustrators “Original Art” exhibit. This exhibit showcases original art from the year’s best children’s books as determined by a jury of outstanding illustrators, art directors, and editors.⁠
•	Named by New York City Public Libraries as one of the six best books of children’s poetry published in 2021. Three of the poets are from Argentina, Chili, and Haiti.
•	On master list of finalists for the state of Kansas Bill Martin, Jr. Picture Book Award.
•	Texas Bluebonnet 2023-2024 Master List

Here I go, off to meet some new people with a smile on my face.

Kate Cosgrove rocks

Hi everyone,

Kudos to KATE COSGROVE, the artist for two of my books with Holiday House, and working on a third as we speak.

Both books have done well. And the Bullfrogs Sing, A Life Cycle was a Bank Street Best Book of the Year, and a Maryland Blue Crab Young Reader Award Honors book.  The Dirt Book: Poems About Animals That Live Beneath Our Feet, was juried into The Original Art 41st Annual Exhibition in NYC by the Society of Illustrators. It was also a New York Public Library Best Book of the Year. It has been named to two state reading lists for this fall, Texas Blue Bonnet and Bill Martin Jr. list in Kansas.

Kate’s most recent triumph is A Day with No Words, by TIFFANY HAMMOND. The subject is autism and it has gone straight to the top of the charts, reaching #1 on the New York Times picture book best seller list and #1 on Amazon for Children’s Books on Disabilities. Here’s what one critic has to say. The American Library Association Booklist starred review boasts, “The story is written from the boy’s first-person perspective, however—a clever choice in that it gives readers a direct look into his mind and reinforces the book’s crucial statement that nonverbal people have as many words and as much intelligence as anyone else. Cosgrove’s art, throughout, does an amazing job of transporting readers into his perspective, employing various color tones, metaphoric imagery, and ‘camera’ angles to reflect the deep expressiveness contained in every page.

Way to go, Kate! I’m so happy for you and glad that we are working on our third book together!

Signing today, Wednesday, at Sundog

Hi everyone,

This morning from 11:00 until 12:30 or 1:00, you’ll find me on the famed front porch of SUNDOG BOOKS in Seaside Florida. A few weeks ago Sundog was named by SOUTHERN LIVING as the best independent book store in the entire state of Florida. It’s just a great place to sit, watch people strolling by, and welcome those who climb the steps to enter the store. Here’s what Southern Living has to say about the place.

With a prime location in the heart of Seaside—a picturesque, walkable beach town northwest of Panama City Beach—Sundog Books was founded alongside the town in the mid-1980s by owners Bob and Linda White, who originally opened the shop in a tiny plywood shack with a tin roof and sand-covered floor. Today, it’s grown into a thriving 1,800-square-foot shop with a strong independent streak, drawing repeat customers for its classics, new releases, thoughtful gifts, and star employee: the White’s playful cattle dog, Glover. Music fans won’t want to miss the funky record shop directly upstairs (Central Square Records) for vintage vinyl and scholarly t-shirts.

All signings take place on the porch. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve occupied one of their stools and high-top tables. I love LANEY and the rest of the staff. Come see me if you’re in the neighborhood. I’ll be waiting on the porch. Thanks to JEFF for being my photographer on occasions when he’s with us. This picture was taken in 2019, soon after AND THE BULLFROGS SING came out.

I believe today I’ll be signing mostly THE DIRT BOOKK, plus whatever other titles are in stock. Should be fun.

The price of procrastination

Hi everyone,

I’ve mentioned before that THE DIRT BOOK is on the Texas Bluebonnet Award Master Reading List for 2023-24. As part of the preparation for that year, KATE COSGRAVE and I were asked to make individual videos to explain how we made the book and to add answers to a list of questions. The deadline was way off in the future.

The smart thing would have been to make my video and check it off my worry list. I didn’t, of course, and in time I forgot about the obligation entirely. Yesterday evening Kate got around to making her video, and it’s just really excellent. She looks good, sounds good, and shows both of our books that she has illustrated, including AND THE BULLFROGS SING.

Today is the deadline that once seemed so far in the future. I’m at the Wilderness Club near Branson, an hour’s drive from Springfield. I didn’t bring “video clothes” with me, nor do I have a copy of THE DIRT BOOK with me. Sometime today I’ll check to see if there’s a library nearby that has a copy of my book that I can borrow. If I can’t cobble together some decent clothes, I’ll have to drive back to Springfield anyway.

My deadline to review my editor’s comments for the upcoming book of poems is tomorrow. I hadn’t intended to work much while we were here relaxing, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do.