Catching Elaine Russell in one place long enough to interview her is a celebration in itself. In between her travels to Thailand, Spain, Kauai, New York, Argentina, and California (all this year), she shared her journey as an author. In the past few months, not only has Russell released the second book in her middle… Read more »
My new school visit pal, Sammy the CheerREADER, came with me ( and Goldie and Bo Peep) to The Reading Bug last weekend for a Get Ready for Back to School storytime. It’s that time of year, my friends. The Reading Bug–and the classroom-preparation conversations on Twitter–made me realize Hooking the reader is like starting… Read more »
I have been knee-deep in revisions lately, in between school visits. Photo And for the longest time I couldn’t think of a good blog topic. (You’ve been very patient, @Grade1 ) Then I looked around–literally–and there they were: revisions, revisions–all over my office! I tell students at school visits that sloppy copies are not something… Read more »
Season’s Greetings! Last fall, when the New York Times declared picture books were “so unpopular these days,” I was surrounded by eager readers at the Oakland Parents Literacy Project’s Family Night where, after teachers and volunteers read aloud to different age-groups, each child received an age appropriate, NEW book. Yes there were chapter books and… Read more »
This post is about how I teach writing differently these days–now that I get to hang out with children’s authors like Ashley Bryan (pictured), attend SCBWI conferences, and keep up with editors and publishers. For example, every Fall, I would give my high school creative writing students a handout about 50 Ways of Saying Said–until… Read more »
