Laura Purdie Salas

Writing the World for Kids

You are here: Home / Archives for Laura’s books

Celebrate the Lunar Landing Anniversary with If You Were the Moon

By 4 Comments

July 20 is the 51st anniversary of the first lunar landing! I bought stamps recently featuring this momentous occasion in our history. It really is astonishing to me that humans were able to walk on the moon. Want to celebrate the moon landing with your students or kids? Check out the post I wrote for […]

Tagged With: , , ,

My New Back to School Picture Book Is an Amazon First Reads Selection!

By 6 Comments

Clover Kitty Goes to Kittygarten (more here), in which an adorable but anxious kitty discovers kittygarten is just as bright, loud, and overwhelming as she fears, comes out August 1. Officially. Buuuuuut, it’s an Amazon First Reads pick, which means if you’re a Prime member, you can choose it as your free Kindle book this […]

Tagged With: , ,

Moving Toward Independence

By

We’re coming up on July 4—the day the United States celebrates its independence. Lots of picture books also celebrate independence, since it’s a crucial journey kids embark on. This includes my newest photo picture book, Secrets of the Loon. In it, Moon Loon has to learn LOTS of skills to become independent! To extend the […]

Tagged With: , , ,

We Are All Family!

By

When I sign my book Meet My Family  for readers, I write the above phrase. And when I read it out loud to groups, I invite kids to look for an animal family in the book that has something in common with their own human family. It’s fun to see kids’ eyes open wide when […]

Tagged With: , , , ,

The World’s Last Magic Bean #PoetryFriday

By

Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I’m sharing another poem readaloud from one of my 30 Painless Classroom Poems books. Now, today, I’m sharing another poem from Fairy Tale Garage Sale, which has the concept that all the characters in fairy tales are selling off their unneeded items. It’s another Jack […]

Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Father’s Day Picture Books

By

  Looking for examples of great dads to share with young readers for Father’s Day? My new picture book Secrets of the Loon illustrates how both loon parents share all the responsibilities, from guarding the nest to giving hatchlings piggyback rides to feeding the chicks. You can expand the reading fun by partnering my title […]

Tagged With: , , ,

Fee-Fie-Foe-Fairian: Surprise! I’m Vegetarian! #PoetryFriday

By

Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) Last week, I shared a poem from my book A Need to Feed. Some of you asked when it was coming out, and the answer is that it’s been out for years. It’s part of a little paperback set of books I did for teachers […]

Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Metaphors in Snowman-Cold=Puddle #ClassroomConnections

By

A third-grade teacher emailed me last week to say she was using Snowman-Cold=Puddle to teach metaphors to her ENL students. She wondered if I could share anything with her. I did, and then I thought, this might be useful for other teachers, too! So, here’s what I told her. Thanks for your question! First off, […]

Tagged With: , , , , ,

Blue Whale’s Apology #PoetryFriday

By

Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) A few cool things before my poem: I’m excited to share the awesome news that Snowman-Cold=Puddle is on the ILA Teachers’ Choice Reading List! Also, I recently created a bunch of #readaloud videos of some of my books and a few poems and put them […]

Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Secrets of the Loon Readaloud

By

Thank you SO much to everyone who came to the Facebook Video launch of Secrets of the Loon (photographer Chuck Dayton, Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2020). I can’t tell you how much I smiled as each familiar name popped up. I was very afraid nobody would come–there’s just so much going on in our virtual […]

Tagged With: , ,