Erin Dealey

Happy Spring Break from Erin Dealey and Curious George! Curious George was on hand to help me last weekend at the Reading Rainbow Young Writers’ and Illustrators’ workshop I taught for our local PBS station KVIE. (You get to meet a lot of celebrities in this business!)

Hi to all the kids from Del Paso, Rocklin, Sacramento, Antelope, and even Los Angeles, who came by to write and illustrate their books and submit them to the annual Young Writers and Illustrators contest. *It’s not to late if you haven’t submitted your book, by the way. The deadline is April 6th for KVIE PBS kids, grades K-3. To check for the contest in your area, go to pbskids.org. There just may be an award in your future.

Speaking of awards (and I’m not, actually) what’s all this about Caldecott and Newberry? I celebrated my BIRTHDAY recently and when I checked other author birthdays, it turns out my birth date falls between a Caldecott (Randolph Caldecott: 3/22/1846) and a Newberry (Claire Newberry: 4/10/1903.) Ha! Gotcha! You really didn’t think I’d spelled the Newbery Award–as in John Newbery–incorrectly did you?

Of course I’m thrilled that my birth-month starts off with Dr. Seuss’ birthday (3/2/1904)–especially because schools love to kick off their reading programs with Author Visits around this time and I love school visits! : )  

Hi to all the fabulous students and staff I’ve met since January at Ruhkala, Breen, Bannon Creek, O.W. Erlewine, Antelope Creek, Benjamin Bubb (Thanks for the cool Bubb sweatshirt!), Twin Oaks, Cobblestone, Stocklmeir, Woodland Montessori, Valley View, Rocklin Elementary, Rocklin Academy, Rock Creek (This is me and some of my Rock Creek pals. Thank you Mrs. Mathias.), Oakley, Charles Brown, and Chicago Park Elementary, as well as my Scholastic Book Fair friends at Birch Lane in Davis.

And Happy Birthday to some of my favorite writers: Sid Fleischman (March 16th), Lois Lowry (March 20th), Robert Frost (March 26th), and Beverly Cleary (April 12th.) Boy, am I in good company or what? 

In celebration of all things Spring, I’ll be reading LITTLE BO PEEP CAN’T GET TO SLEEP at Stanford University on Saturday April 7th at the Provost’s Egg Hunt from 10:30 – 11:00, and signing books afterwards. This event is for grad students and their little bunnies. I’m looking forward to seeing my SCBWI pals Kim Zarins who will read her Playful Bunny from 11:00 – 11:30 and Lynn Hazen who will share Buzz Bumble to the Rescue! from 11:30 – 12:00 noon.

Meanwhile, it’s time to PBIC and WRITE NOW.