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Upcoming Schedule: I enjoy visiting with readers so much! Sandberg Institute, Toledo, OH: June 13-14th ALA Washington, DC: June 24-30thApril 22, 2010 Earth Day. Hats off to Gaylord Nelson, its founder (who hailed from Wisconsin, I believe?) I used to bake an “Earthday cake” every year on this day—complete with two hemispheres, seven continents, and blue-and-green icing—and white for the polar caps. One year I used toothpaste and no one knew the difference! Now I use that time to write and just IMAGINE baking an earth-day cake. I had a wonderful day sharing my books and my slides with the very fine students at St. Anastasia’s in Newtown Square, PA. Several of the students and the faculty had visited the Brandywine River Museum and knew all about Den-Den the pig! April 14-17, 2010 My first time at the Texas Library Conference in San Antonio. Wow. They should write a book about how to run a great conference. This thing was not only fun and inspiring, it ran like a well-oiled machine! The weather was awful, but despite that, the sessions, panels, and exhibits were full and the enthusiasm high. Who cares about soggy shoes when you have hundreds of librarians and educators asking for your books and your tips on how to teach kids to write poetry and do research?! I got to spend some quality time with Joan, my very patient and talented editor at Knopf, and had dinner with some authors whose books I knew but had never met before. (Wendelin Van Draanen is funny! The movie based on her novel Flipped is due out this fall.) Also got to chat with the amazing Pat Mora , whose work I have admired for a long time. The POETRY ROUND-UP was a highlight—six of us read our work for a room full of very appreciative and lively TX librarians. It was a hoot! Big shout-out to Sylvia Vardell from TWU for coordinating the event. March 29, 2010 My second trip to the Madison, WI area. Great town—lovely people, very walkable and for the second time—warm and sunny weather. (I’ve been lucky, I know—March in the Madison area can feel like December.) I gave an evening presentation followed by a book signing at the Middleton Public Library. It was packed! The audience included several children’s authors from the area, a few poets (big fans of Wm. C Wms.) and my Gettysburg College roommate, Carol, who now lives with her family in Madison. We ate afterwards at the DINER right next door (as a New Jersey kid, I have to love that), known for its amazing array of pies including Raspberry Rhubarb and Chocolate Macadamia. New Jersey folks would approve, I’m sure. :)March 18-21, 2010  My first trip to Clearwater, Fl for Spring Training games at Brighthouse Field. Neil and I got to see our Phillies play the Baltimore Orioles . . . twice. I was THIS CLOSE to Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Jimmy Rollins! I said hello to Charlie Manuel and he and hitting coach Milt Thompson signed my program. Chooch (our wonderful and humble catcher, Carlos Ruiz) had the flu, so we didn’t get to see him play. That was the only disappointing thing, though. I recommend this Clearwater experience to anyone who’s a true fan—it’s almost as good as meeting Jane Yolen!
February 3, 2010
My fourth visit to Eleanor Roosevelt Elementary School in the Pennsbury School District. Boy, is this a great place to be a fifth-grader! Kathy Royal and the other fifth grade teachers had been reading Georgia’s Bones, Kaleidoscope Eyes, The Trial, & A River of Words —and the students shared with me some of their amazing poetry and their original projects based on my verse novel The Trial. One student got his family to drive him to Flemington, NJ, where he photo-documented several of the important places in the book (the courthouse, the Union Hotel, etc.) Another student made a scale model of the Lindbergh home, complete with the ladder that was use in the kidnapping. Someone else made a multi media slide show focusing on the various pieces of evidence presented at the trial. Other wrote newspaper articles about he crime and investigation as if they were reporters in 1935. Impressive—and FUN. This is why I write historical fiction instead of textbooks. January 25, 2010
Enjoyed my visit to French Creek Elementary School in the Owen J. Roberts School District. My friend, Cam Hays, is the media specialist there and she makes sure that everyone at French Creek is a committed reader! After my presentation and Q & A, Cam told me that there’s a huge waiting list in the library for THE TRIAL, and that many of the fourth and fifth graders were conducting their own investigation on-line through the NJ State Police archives and debating about who THEY think stole Charles Lindbergh’s baby son. It’s what every author hopes for: excited and engaged readers! January 16, 2010 Took a walk through the woods in the snow. Boulders poked up through the white and bare black trees swayed slightly in the chill breeze. This is just the kind of landscape that Andrew Wyeth, who died on this date last year (age 91) loved to study and to paint. I think he’s the only artist who could paint a tree and make it look more real than the actual one. January 2, 2010 75 years ago, the Lindbergh trial commenced in the courthouse on Main Street, Flemington, NJ. My grandmother was in high school then, and years later, when I was growing up in the house next door, I used to pester her to tell me what it was like to have watch “The Trial of the Century” unfold right down the street. |
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