Small Reads for Brighters Days
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) You guys, I have so missed you! I hope you’re all well, and I’m excited to start catching up on all I’ve missed over the past month or two. We’re still getting settled in, but I’m going to try picking back up my Poetry Friday […]
We’ve just moved–third time in five years. I’m exhausted, and I don’t know where anything is! Since I read so many books, I largely rely on library books (and novels are usually on Kindle) to feed my habit. But there are still those owned, physical books that must come with me. They’re old friends. A […]
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) Thanks for all your empathy and sharing last week when I shared a poem about sad books. You guys are the best. This week, I’m sharing another poem written for BookSpeak, but this one is actually in the book! This poem’s also in a […]
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I wished you a happy day, but the truth is, I’ve been feeling a bit down. I tend to be relentlessly optimistic and generally feel grateful and content. And here’s the thing. Although my career, like most writers’ is taking a beating with the pandemic, […]
Seriously, nothing makes me happier than seeing teachers, librarians, or kids having fun with my books. Check out this awesome performance of “Calling All Readers” from BOOKSPEAK!, posted on Twitter by teacher Liz Evans. Thanks, Liz and you other wonderful readers!
March 2 is Read Across America Day! Here’s a poem to start off your storytime. When I read this poem with kids, I act out the poem using simple motions that they can mimic. Give it a try! Calling All Readers I’ll tell you a story. I’ll spin you a rhyme. I’ll spill some ideas— […]
The most painful part of being a teacher was seeing kids hurting from something I could do nothing about. Kids who were abused–that was the worst. Kids who came from homes of alcohol and drug abuse. Kids who had a family member dying a slow, ugly, painful death. Though I only taught for two years, […]
Last week, school librarian Karen Bentall shared a wonderful photo of a BookSpeak display in the Oak Ridge Elementary School library in Arlington, VA. Wow! It’s beautiful! I asked if I could share this cool artwork here and if she could tell me a little more about it. Here’s what Karen said: Smart […]
Yesterday, I was sharing the opening poem of BookSpeak! and how it came to be the opening poem. Well, last week was my birthday, and Randy, my husband, and I were spending a few days up on the North Shore of Lake Superior–one of my favorite places in the whole world! We had just parked […]
A couple of weeks ago, I posted about working on the opening to my next picture book. I still haven’t heard if the opening I submitted will fly or not, but I thought I’d follow up here and share a couple of openings written after the fact. A lot of times, the meat of the […]
