What’s in the Basket?
The Lamppost
“Investing in early childhood nutrition is a surefire strategy. The returns are incredibly high.” —Anne Mulcahy I am the head of children’s services at Ericson Public Library in Boone, Iowa. According to Iowa Department of Education, Boone has 1,901 students and 877 of those students are in a free or reduced lunch program (Kids Count, [...]
Inspiration
Page Break
Inspiration! It’s so wonderful when it shows up at my door. And it usually brings its friends …
What Gets Left Out
Nonfictionary
In my three decades as a professional author, I’ve written about many intriguing, accomplished people: the Wyeth family of artists, painter Georgia O’Keeffe, abolitionist Lucretia Mott, author Peter Mark Roget, poets William Carlos Williams and Marianne Moore, self-taught artist Horace Pippin, inventor Louis Braille, and most recently Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson. In every case, [...]
The Rabbit Listened
Red Reading Boots
In my current regular storytime group, I have a little one who insists he has whatever book I’m reading at his house, too. I hold up a book and he jumps in excitement. “I have that book at my house!” he says, while his parents shake their head behind him. I tease him saying, [...]
Knowing Your Past to Make Peace
Peace-ology
Welcome to Peace-ology. We are two children’s authors teaming up to review children’s books with peace in mind. Ellie: The other day, I looked over the shoulder of my five-year-old to see what he was drawing. There was the Ireland flag on the left, the Norway flag on the right, and he was finishing the [...]
Norma Gaffron and Her Reading Team
February 2020
Raising Star Readers
Norma Gaffron is thrilled to have this chance to share her family’s long tradition of reading aloud. Her children and grandchildren are now grown, but they took the time during their Christmas Eve celebration to share a picture book together. Norma’s son Tim took the photos of Lauren (21), Norma (88), and Erik (25) enjoying [...]
Catherine Friend
Skinny Dip
We welcome author Catherine Friend to our Skinny Dip column this month. You may know her for her picture books The Perfect Nest and My Head is Full of Colors, or her chapter book Barn Boot Blues. You may have thought about becoming a farmer after reading Hit by a Farm, Sheepish, and The Compassionate Carnivore. Perhaps you’re [...]
The Crack in the Door:
How I Came to Write Bones in the White House
Big Green Pocketbook
I’ve been keen on dinosaurs and Ice Age mammals my whole life, since I read Roy Chapman Andrews’ All About Dinosaurs. When I was nine, I added paleontologist to my string of future occupations (writer, artist, ballet dancer, detective). My love for Jefferson began when we moved to Fredericksburg in 1996. I was touring James Monroe’s [...]
Lincoln or Jaguar?
Writing Road Trip
Names are one-word poems. I often do tons of research to figure out which name is the best match for the individual I’m inventing; it matters that I get it right.
Elizabeth Verdick
Self on the Shelf
When I picture myself as a kid, I think of my bedroom in our split-level West Virginia house, a room I loved but had to leave behind at age eleven when my family moved to Maryland. For years, that room was my own little world, my book nook, my place to cuddle my cat Rag, [...]
Creativity Flourishes
Page Break
My creativity tends to flourish when I have a physical challenge.
The Gems: Revolutionize Your Teaching of Writing
When We Reach Them
The stack of student papers lurks on the corner of your desk, just waiting to be marked and graded. Yes, the rubrics and grading standards will be applied conscientiously, paper after paper. Your students wait, some in dread, some in hopeful anticipation, for your final judgments on their papers. But wait — there’s another way to evaluate [...]
Bedtime for Sweet Creatures
Reading Ahead
Such a charming book! From Nikki Grimes, we hear the story of a young boy stalling his bedtime, all the while collecting a menagerie of imaginary creatures. This is a child who has well-practiced ploys for avoiding bedtime. His parents respond with playfulness and good humor. Mom and dad are patient but, finally, the child [...]
A Blizzard of Snow Books
Two for the Show
We’re snowed under right now, what with teaching and writing and, well, snow, so we thought we’d offer up a blizzard of books about the white stuff that falls from our skies. Curl up with a child, a cup of warmth, and enjoy winter in the pages of a book. The Snow Party by Beatrice [...]
My Word for the New Year
Teach It Forward
As in past years, in lieu of a New Year’s resolution, I’ve chosen a single word to frame the year ahead. There are numerous websites and blogs that celebrate this idea. This is my favorite. The following sentiment from the site really sums it up beautifully; My One Word replaces broken promises with a vision for [...]
Susan Fletcher
Skinny Dip
Storyteller adept Susan Fletcher’s mind has given us The Dragon Chronicles, Alphabet of Dreams, the startling Falcon in the Glass, and most recently Journey of the Pale Bear. As you’ll read below, she has traveled to amazing locations and had enviable experiences as she researched her novels. Susan taught at the Vermont College of Fine [...]
Melanie Heuiser Hill
Self on the Shelf
This stack is largely the Self-On-The-Shelf stack of my childhood. There would be stacks of others, as well, you understand. I was surprised how many were missing when I went to pull books for this column, actually. Where were all the Judy Blume books? Where was How To Eat Fried Worms? And, I suppose if [...]
Looking Both Ways
Writing Road Trip
Some students jump into wild creativity without hearing a single warning rattle. Others stop to look both ways so often that they never successfully make it across the writing street.
Timeless Tales Program
When We Reach Them
Creating a Connected Community of Readers: Intergenerational Storytime After seeing a handful of articles about nursing homes opening up preschools in a shared space, as well as the benefits from this partnership, I wanted to find a way to create the same intergenerational connection in a library setting. We already had a relationship with our [...]
For the Love of Pickles
Cookology
Know some pickle crazy kids? I do! A favorite birthday dinner that my grandkids request is Pickle Pasta (recipe below) — not the cold pasta salad variety, mind you, but warm buttery noodles dotted with briny pickles. My daughter created this simple but oh-so-satisfying dish during her college days when the cupboards were sometimes nearly bare. I [...]
Equality’s Call
Reading Ahead
Written by Deborah Diesen in readable-out-loud verse with a refrain that reflects the cumulative action in the preceding pages, this picture book traces the diligent efforts of those who worked for decades to make America’s voting rights more inclusive. There is history here for everyone to know. The illustrations add passion and understanding to the [...]
Reading Books Through the Lens of Peace
Peace-ology
Welcome to Peace-ology. We are two children’s authors teaming up to review children’s books with peace in mind. Caren: After all our interviews for our book Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor’s Story, I asked the book’s inspiration, peace educator Sachiko Yasui, if she had any last words she would like to share with children. Sachiko’s response [...]
Modern-Day Treasure Hunting
Knock Knock
Why was I crawling through a frozen sewer pipe on my hands and knees in the middle of winter? I was geocaching, my latest obsession. If you haven’t heard of geocaching, it’s a worldwide treasure hunt using GPS to locate hidden containers called geocaches. There are literally millions of geocaches hidden around the globe. When [...]