Laura Purdie Salas

Writing the World for Kids

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A Holiday Wordsmiths Gathering

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A couple of weeks ago, my writing group, the Wordsmiths, did our little holiday get-together. Great food (can you say whiskey truffles?), laughter (lots), small & lovely gifts, and talking about books and works in progress. We were missing two comrades-in-pens, but other than that, what a lovely afternoon! Thanks, Joyce Sidman, for hosting. It […]

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Writing on Assignment: Is It Right for You?

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Children’s writers, this post is for you, though, teachers, you might find interesting ideas for exercises regarding voice and tone to do with your students. I’m over at Teaching Authors today with a Wednesday Writing Workout called The Cinderella Trifecta: Is Writing on Assignment Right for You? Get your pens or keyboards ready…go! I hope […]

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Inviting a Reader in

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Teachers, I’m in the editing/revision process for my next book with Millbrook Press. Carol, my insightful editor, wondered if the book needed more of an opening to orient the reader. I wrote the book as a Things To Do If… poem (see some quick TTDI poems here and here and here), and if you go […]

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A Little Poetry and Game Night

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Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) A couple of weeks ago, I took my niece Lily (remember our collaboration of poetry and art here?) for a game/art night. We do this every once in a while. She’s very artistic. We go to a coffee shop and doodle or do rock art […]

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Color Separation at the Kerlan with Zelinsky, Weiss, and Dewey

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Here in Minneapolis, we have the Kerlan Collection, part of the Children’s Literature Research Collections (CLRC) at the University of Minnesota. Scholars come from all over the country–and world–to study its amazing resources. Recently, Curator Lisa Von Drasek hosted an event featuring retired Green Willow Art Director Ava Weiss, award-winning illustrator Paul Zelinsky, and noted […]

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Tea from Tabatha

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I got an email a couple of weeks ago from poet/blogger Tabatha Yeatts. She asked me for my snail mail address because she had some tea to send me. Huh? I love tea. But I don’t know Tabatha that well and thought maybe she had meant to email Laura Shovan or another Laura in her […]

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Tip#19: Let kids chime in! [Plus a guest post for rhyming writers]

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First of all, writer friends, I have a guest post up at Angie Karcher’s RhyPiBoMo series. I shared an excerpt from the book Lisa Bullard and I wrote together, Rhyming Picture Books: The Write Way. Take a peek if you’re interested! And teacher friends, welcome to today’s tip in my month-long Poetry Tips for Teachers […]

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Who Are Those Kids on My Water Bottle? A Marketing Fail

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  Y’all know how my husband Randy has made shirts, phone cases, messenger bags, laptop skins, and more based on my books? They come out beautifully 99% of the time. But I thought I’d share how occasionally, we have a marketing fail. This was too funny, so I had to share it with you. Before […]

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I’m EMBRACE-ing 2015!

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Each January, I choose a word of the year. This year, my word, my theme, is EMBRACE! I plan to try to embrace my writing life. If I can’t embrace it, I’m going to try to ditch it–either not do it (and quit feeling guilty about not doing it), outsource it…something. I love picture books, […]

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Special Saturday Edition: I’m at Will Write for Cookies

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Good morning, everybody! I don’t usually post on Saturdays, but it’s a special weekend edition, because I’m being featured over at the lovely Vivian Kirkfield’s Picture Books Help Kids Soar blog as part of her Will Write for Cookies series. Hey, if you change that to cupcakes, I’ll write, sing, dance, do just about anything! […]

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