Laura Purdie Salas

Writing the World for Kids

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Robert’s Snow: Lauren Stringer

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   Lauren Stringer     Lauren is a Minnesota author/illustrator who’s participating in Robert’s Snow this year! Two of my favorite books that she illustrated are Our Family Tree (by Lisa Westberg Peters) and Castles, Caves, and Honeycombs (by Linda Ashman). The beautiful Winter Is the Warmest Season, which came out in 2006, was her first […]

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Mini-Feature: Bugs: Poems About Creeping Things

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Here’s another poetry book not yet nominated for a Cybils award. Yesterday, I read Bugs: Poems About Creeping Things, by David L. Harrison, illustrated by Rob Shepperson (Wordsong, 2007).  This collection of 40 poems about the things I try to avoid whenever possible (boxelders congregating around our electric meter and trying to find a way into the […]

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You Can Write a Story! (You Can, Really)

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Minnapolis writer Lisa Bullard has a terrific new children’s book out called You Can Write a Story.  It’s a great tool for kids and for teachers. It uses a cooking analogy to walk you through the steps of writing a story. It’s clear, easy to understand, and fun. I find that writing books for kids often  have […]

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Mini-Feature: Polar Bear, Arctic Hare

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I’ve been gathering the poetry books not yet nominated for Cybils in an effort to decide what to use my nomination on! I figured I’d share a little about the books when I have time (ha!). This morning, I read Polar Bear, Arctic Hare: Poems of the Frozen North, by Eileen Spinelli, illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes […]

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Poetry Friday: Personals

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I was reading a poetry collection last week called Dying Old and Dying Young, by Susan Williams, and I got a kick out of her poem, “Personals.” Personals Looking for a man who doesn’t know his sign or resting heart rate; who only runs to catch a bus; can’t tell sushi from raw fish. Thinks […]

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Robert’s Snow: Rick Chrustowski

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Rick Chrustowski    I’m excited to be taking part in Blogging for the Cure, where we’re featuring just some (but you can discover the rest of them when you visit the auction) of the wonderful illustrators and snowflakes of Robert’s Snow, an auction of illustrated snowflakes to raise funds for cancer research. Today I’m featuring Rick […]

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Double Dactyl: What’s All the Fuss About?

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So, I read about the double dactyl form of poetry on Kelly Fineman’s blog on Poetry Friday and decided to try one this weekend. I had never even heard of it! Yesterday, as my kids were were shopping for inappropriate Halloween costumes (who knew the devil wore such a short skirt?), I plunked myself down in […]

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Attack of the Poems

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  Recently I was working on a revision of poetry collection/cycle. It started out as 23 poems. An editor liked it but wanted more characterization, more depth. She didn’t say anything about more poems, exactly, but somehow as I revised and freewrote, I ended up with a total of 106 poems! Here are some of […]

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Poetry Friday: My Biggest Fear

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After posting Mary Oliver’s Alligator Poem last week, I decided to try my hand at writing a poem about my biggest fear. Alligators are a phobia of mine, but not something I really worry about here in Minnesota!  I knew my greatest fear was bad news about one of my daughters. Horrible news from a […]

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Do You Have a Doppelganger?

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I want the bodies of lots of different people. I wish I had her legs, her stomach, her arms, etc. But last week at the gym one day, I had an odd experience. I was walking behind a woman whose body looked like mine when mine is at its best. She was the same build, […]