Small Reads for Brighters Days
Over the past two weeks, I did three storytimes at libraries in the East Central Region of Minnesota. It was great to meet families and celebrate kids as readers, as (mostly) preschoolers and toddlers swooped like bats, bloomed like flowers, made monkey noises, did toothpaste art, and echo read my books and poems. But a […]
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) Last week, I went to Plainview Library in Plainview, Minnesota, for a poetry event. My sister Patty (up from Florida) and daughter Maddie (home briefly from Scotland) came with me on this mini-road trip. It was a small group of kids (always so hard to […]
On Saturday, the 17th, I spent the day in Red Wing, MN, at the Anderson Center for the Minnesota Children’s Book Festival. Lisa Bullard and I both manned the So You Want to Be an Author tent. We spent the buggy afternoon talking with adults who want to write for kids and also writing poems […]
Last week, I visited Plainview Library (southern MN), and I had a wonderful time meeting Meg Curtiss, a children’s librarian who so naturally connects with kids. She’s doing awesome things for both the public library and (as a volunteer) the local school library. We celebrated the messiness of creativity and writing, and I was so […]
Last Friday, I was part of a literacy event in Stewartville, MN, called Hot Reads for Cold Nights. Wow. There were 500 or so people there, and organizer Renita Irvin had so many things going on: book exchanges, food, storytellers, silent auctions, and a ton of other stuff. What a logistical accomplishment! All these elementary […]
Last week, I told you I was going to prison to speak in a RIF-related event.You guys gave me great advice–thank you! I wanted to let you know how it went. I was there with a bunch of fantastic writers, like Marion Dane Bauer and Sharon Chmielarz and John Coy and Patrick Jones and Tom […]
Saturday morning, I spent storytime at The Red Balloon Bookshop, a wonderful indie children’s bookstore I don’t get to often enough because it’s across town. They invited me to do a storytime to help celebrate I Love to Read month. Here’s a 1:26 minute slideshow of what we did. The kids at storytimes are generally […]
Saturday was the Children’s Literature Network‘s annual Books for Breakfast event. It was a blast! Here’s a very brief slideshow to give you a taste of what it was like: pictures, laughter, door prizes, food, goody bags, a contest, authors, illustrators, and–most of all–books. Wonderful books! Twenty-five writers and artists had two minutes each to […]
Yesterday, I was the guest author for the St. Paul Saints minor league baseball game in St. Paul, MN. I read Stampede! Poems to Celebrate the Wild Side of School, of course. I was invited to participate by the Red Balloon Bookshop, a lovely children’s bookstore who partners with the team to promote reading. Sudden downpours, spilled drinks […]
