Yesterday, School Library Journal published an article by Lee Bock, rounding up "recommended" fall books for preschoolers and elementary kids in four different categories. And I’m so excited that Shrinking Days, Frosty Nights was included:
SALAS, Laura Purdie. Shrinking Days, Frosty Nights: Poems About Fall. (Poetry Series). Capstone/A+ Bks. 2008. PLB $23.93. ISBN 978-1-4296-1205-0.
K-Gr 2-Sixteen delightful poems introduce young readers to a variety of poetic forms, including haiku, concrete, cinquain, free verse, and acrostic, all explained in a useful appendix. Fresh images prompt closer observation. Pumpkins, for example, are “…golden moons dropped from the sky…future faces made of cuts…wobbly bowling balls–with stems.” Full-page photographs of corn, leaves, apples, and other images of the season are dramatic.
Books published by educational publishers don’t traditionally get much love/attention in reviews, so it was really fun to see my book listed there. And "delightful"? Made my day!
And, even more exciting, I had a big envelope from my editor at Clarion. She sent me my marked-up manuscript for my second poetry collection with them, which I’ll call Bookspeak here. I got a lovely revision letter as well as a printout of my manuscript with her notes hand-written all over it. I can’t wait to dig in and start working on revisions.
I’m buried under work-for-hire projects at the moment, so my plan is to thoroughly read through the manuscript, letter, and all her notes in the next several days, at least twice. I’m hoping my brain will do some absorbing and thinking and problem-solving over the next couple of weeks. Once I meet a bunch of upcoming deadlines, I should be ready to give this collection my full attention for revision.
Most days, I completely love my job!