Laura Purdie Salas

Writing the World for Kids

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Poetryaction for Summer Birds [Poetry Friday]

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Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I got to meet Margarita Engle at NCTE last fall when we were signing books next to each other. What a lovely person! Have you read her Summer Birds, with glorious illustrations by Julie Paschkis? I confess I’m not a huge bug person. Leaving behind […]

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A Poetryaction for If You Plant a Seed [Poetry Friday]

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Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I’ve blogged about NCTE last fall, and one of the many enjoyable sessions was the Children’s Literature Breakfast, featuring Kadir Nelson. I was quoting Kadir in a talk about mentor texts that I gave last weekend (more about that next week), so I thought I’d […]

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Poetryaction and Bookalikes for P. Zonka Lays an Egg

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Here’s one more poetryaction! I am feeling more like a dreamer lately, wanting (but not having) more time for writing just for the heck of it—that’s a rare luxury for me. P. Zonka‘s daydreaming and its randomly beautiful results really touched me in this book. I wanted to capture a taste of that randomness—the serendipity […]

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Poetryaction for The Secret Life of Squirrels

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Here’s today’s poetryaction! I’ve had this poetryaction for The Secret Life of Squirrels for a long time and am finally getting around to sharing it! I didn’t expect to like this book because, well, the cover looks a little cheesy to me. Then I read it and was totally charmed by the art, the artist’s […]

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Poetryaction for The Harvey Milk Story

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While I try to catch up this week, I’m going to share a few poetryactions. Hope you like them!   The flap copy of The Harvey Milk Story says, “In making history that day, Minnie Milk’s intelligent, energetic and courageous son showed the world that…” so I assumed the story would involve Milk’s mother. Nope. […]

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A Poetryaction for Poetry Friday

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Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) This week, I’ve talked about writing about hard topics, worrying about manuscripts turned in, and reading things twice. Since I’m in technology chaos right now, I think I’m just going to share a poetryaction I’ve shared before that seems to tie in with the themes […]

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Poetryaction and Bookalikes for Marilyn’s Monster

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I’ve been working (for many years, off and on!) on a poetry project with a main character who feels rejected in  many areas of her life. She tries so hard to not want things like friends and invitations to birthday parties, because she doesn’t have them. So it hurts less if she tells herself she […]

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Poetryaction for Blizzard

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Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) Well, we’re going from fire to ice. Yesterday, I shared an image for 15 Words or Less that some of you wondered what it was. I thought it resembled frozen flames, and y’all saw fire, ice, hearts, hands, and more in it. For those of […]

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Poetryaction for Please, Mr. Panda

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Oh, my goodness. My writers’ group, the Wordsmiths, met yesterday for our holiday gathering. The laughing! The food! The good advice! Hope you are all enjoying some holiday gatherings with your teacher colleagues and/or writing friends, too! Please, Mr. Panda is a quirky little book! To be honest, I thought Mr. Panda was a bit […]

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Poetryaction for Ben & Zip

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OK, I know a beach book and poem isn’t exactly seasonal, but…a five-minute imaginary trip to the beach might be just what you long for, now that we’re knee deep into December! I used to be in a crit group with author Joanne Linden, and I was SO thrilled when Ben & Zip, a charming […]

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