I had the best time at Pinewood Elementary last month. I got to spend two days there, which means that, in addition to two large-group presentations, I did writing workshops with each third-grade class. Love! The staff was amazing and enthusiastic, and the students were incredible. We had the best
Last night, I visited Knapp Elementary School in Knapp, Wisconsin, for a literacy celebration. It was easy to see Principal Kristin Humphrey is a reading specialist by training–books are celebrated everywhere in the school! I especially loved these displays of artwork related to my book A ROCK CAN BE… The
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
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
As I mentioned yesterday, I led biopoem sessions at a Young Authors Conference all last week. The students wrote and shared amazing poems: a silly poem about brussel sprouts, a thoughtful poem about creativity, a heartbreaking poem about gender identity and fitting in, a scary poem about rats, a celebratory
Last month, I got to visit Hugo Elementary School in White Bear Lake, MN, at the invitation of Media Specialist Connie Stirling, whom I had run into at the Hubbs Children’s Literature Conference. I was so excited to visit the school and spend an entire day writing poems with 1st
Back during Poetry Month, I had a lovely overnight visit to southern Minnesota for an evening event at the Lanesboro Public Library and then a school visit at LeRoy Elementary the next morning. (Here’s an article in the local paper. Thanks, Charlie Warner!) It’s agricultural country down there and Amish
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
As a writer, nothing makes me feel better than knowing that my words inspired someone else to do something: to write, to think differently, to take some kind of action (or even just to relax, to laugh, or to learn). Last month, I got the nicest letter from teacher Ashley
When I was poetry-touring the Arrowhead region of Minnesota last April, a kindergarten or 1st-grade girl tugged on my arm on her way out of a session. “Can I give you these?” she asked. She held out a few papers to me. I took them, told her I couldn’t wait
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