or click this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haxLTceOynQ
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
FOSSIL Book Trailer
Please watch an adorable video trailer below for FOSSIL that Two Lions created in conjunction with the book's release. The video was created by Timoney Korbar, and she did an absolutely amazing job. According to Timoney, she gave each of the children a copy of FOSSIL and asked them to read it while she filmed- the children were not coached in any way. This video is one of the cutest things that I have ever seen! Having the opportunity to create books for children is one of my life's greatest blessings, and seeing this for the first time… well, I have to admit, I got a bit choked up. Thank you to Timoney and these wonderful children!
Monday, November 18, 2013
B IS FOR BOOKS appearance: Saturday, November 30
I will be appearing at the B IS FOR BOOKS bookstore in Orchard Park, NY on Saturday, November 30 from noon to 4pm to sign books and visit with customers. This appearance is part of the Indies First movement supporting local independent bookstores. I am very excited to participate in this Small Business Saturday event!
Local independent bookstores play a very important role in our communities, and B IS FOR BOOKS perfectly demonstrates their value. B IS FOR BOOKS serves the greater Buffalo NY community by selling a wide assortment of books, educational toys, and gifts. This wonderful store also hosts birthday parties and provides seasonal camps centered around writing, art and books. B IS FOR BOOKS also conducts weekly storytime and music events, and even provides fund-raising events for schools, sports teams, troops, and other organizations. The folks in Orchard Park are very fortunate to have such an active and engaged independent bookstore within their community!
To find this local treasure, please visit:
B IS FOR BOOKS
6562 E. Quaker Street
Orchard park, NY 14127
(716) 667-2383
http://www.bis4books.com
Store hours are:
Monday: 10am-3pm
Tuesday through Friday: 10am-5:30pm
Saturday: 10am-4pm
I am very excited to visit B IS BOOKS on Saturday, November 30! I hope to see your there, and if you can't attend, PLEASE SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE!
Local independent bookstores play a very important role in our communities, and B IS FOR BOOKS perfectly demonstrates their value. B IS FOR BOOKS serves the greater Buffalo NY community by selling a wide assortment of books, educational toys, and gifts. This wonderful store also hosts birthday parties and provides seasonal camps centered around writing, art and books. B IS FOR BOOKS also conducts weekly storytime and music events, and even provides fund-raising events for schools, sports teams, troops, and other organizations. The folks in Orchard Park are very fortunate to have such an active and engaged independent bookstore within their community!
To find this local treasure, please visit:
B IS FOR BOOKS
6562 E. Quaker Street
Orchard park, NY 14127
(716) 667-2383
http://www.bis4books.com
Store hours are:
Monday: 10am-3pm
Tuesday through Friday: 10am-5:30pm
Saturday: 10am-4pm
I am very excited to visit B IS BOOKS on Saturday, November 30! I hope to see your there, and if you can't attend, PLEASE SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE!
Thursday, November 14, 2013
FOSSIL Blog Tour
Two Lions and Blueslipmedia.com have organized a book tour for my latest book, FOSSIL. The tour features some GREAT blog sites dedicated to children's literature. Each site was provided with a copy of the book by the publisher and directed to provide a true and honest review or conduct an interview. Many of the sites are offering a giveaway of the review copy to their readers.
FOSSIL BLOG TOUR
Sat, Nov 9
Booking Mama
http://www.bookingmama.net
Mon, Nov 11
NC Teacher Stuff
http://ncteacherstuff.blogspot.com
Tues, Nov 12
Just a Little Creativity
http://www.justalittlecreativity.com
Wed, Nov 13
There's a Book
http://www.theresabook.com/
Thurs, Nov 14
Sharpread
http://sharpread.wordpress.com
Fri, Nov 15
Kid Lit Frenzy
http://www.kidlitfrenzy.com
Mon, Nov 18
Once Upon a Story
http://www.novalibrarymom.com
Tues, Nov 19
The Children's Book Review
http://www.thechildrensbookreview.com
Wed, Nov 20
5 Minutes for Books
http://www.5minutesformom.com
Thurs, Nov 21
Geo Librarian
http://geolibrarian.blogspot.com
Fri, Nov 22
Growing with Science
http://blog.growingwithscience.com
FOSSIL BLOG TOUR
Sat, Nov 9
Booking Mama
http://www.bookingmama.net
Mon, Nov 11
NC Teacher Stuff
http://ncteacherstuff.blogspot.com
Tues, Nov 12
Just a Little Creativity
http://www.justalittlecreativity.com
Wed, Nov 13
There's a Book
http://www.theresabook.com/
Thurs, Nov 14
Sharpread
http://sharpread.wordpress.com
Fri, Nov 15
Kid Lit Frenzy
http://www.kidlitfrenzy.com
Mon, Nov 18
Once Upon a Story
http://www.novalibrarymom.com
Tues, Nov 19
The Children's Book Review
http://www.thechildrensbookreview.com
Wed, Nov 20
5 Minutes for Books
http://www.5minutesformom.com
Thurs, Nov 21
Geo Librarian
http://geolibrarian.blogspot.com
Fri, Nov 22
Growing with Science
http://blog.growingwithscience.com
Sunday, November 10, 2013
New Britain Museum of Art FAMILY DAY EVENT- Monday, November 11th
On Monday November 11 at noon, I will be making a slide presentation and doing a book signing at the New Britain Museum of Art in conjunction with their Maurice Sendak exhibition FAMILY DAY event. Children will also have the opportunity to to decorate the museum sidewalk with chalk drawings!
http://www.nbmaa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=148&Itemid=176
Monday, September 30, 2013
Friday, September 20, 2013
Princeton Children's Book Festival- Saturday, September 21
I am excited to be joining a wonderful group of children's authors and illustrators that will be appearing at the Eighth Annual Princeton Children's Book Festival on Saturday, September 21 from 11-4. You can read about the event here:
http://www.princetonlibrary.org/find/kids/book-festival
http://www.princetonlibrary.org/find/kids/book-festival
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Rocks In My Head... (And Other Childhood Memories)
Whether making art or writing stories, I believe a person's best work comes when they have a personal connection with their subjects. With that in mind, I always revisit my childhood for inspiration.
In 1970, I was seven years old when my family moved to Roanoke, Virginia. It was there that my brothers and I began to experience and appreciate the wonders of nature. We moved into a new neighborhood with a beautiful sprawling countryside behind our house. The gentle downward slope of our backyard met a creek before turning upward into a great hill. Cows would graze on the weeds along the hill and often continue their daily feasting right up to our back patio.
My brothers and I loved to explore our new environment. We caught Monarch caterpillars that were hiding under the leaves of milkweed plants growing along the creek. They were absolutely beautiful creatures with silky-smooth skin and bands of green, black, and white wrapping around their chubby bodies. We kept the caterpillars in a bucket and used a tennis racquet for a lid. We fed them fresh milkweed plants until the day that we found chrysalis suspended from the strings of the tennis racquet. The chrysalis resembled jewels with little yellow beads lining their green polished exteriors. Weeks later, we returned from school to find Monarch butterflies erupting from their transparent encasements. Their miraculous transformation was complete. We watched in wonder as they aired out their wings and eventually lofted into the afternoon sky. I would later pay tribute to these butterflies in my book, CHALK. They were the only magical creation left at the end of the story.
The creek was always the source of our greatest adventures. In addition to the caterpillars on the milkweed plants, we pulled newts, frogs, tadpoles, turtles, and crayfish from the small creek's rippling clear waters. Each day was a new opportunity to investigate our aquatic backyard neighbors.
One day, my younger brother, Joe, and I were looking for newts when I spotted a small board at the water's edge. It should be noted that when exploring a creek, a discarded board almost always has an amazing treasure hidden beneath. On this occasion, turning the board over revealed something we had never seen before... a small reddish-brownish shape was uncoiling and stretching for the water. Before Joe could finish screaming the word, "snake!," I had scooped it up in my blue metal Maxwell House Coffee can and slapped the clear plastic lid on it. Joe and I looked at each other, and then I slowly lifted the lid so we could have a peek inside. The snake lunged towards our wide eyes, and I slapped the lid back down. In unison, my brother and I sprinted back up the incline towards our house, all the way shouting, "Mom, look at what we caught!"
We burst into the house and ran up the stairs to find Mom by the stove making supper. She was talking on the phone and we contorted our bodies under the outstretched phone cord to get closer and show her our catch. She continued her phone conversation and leaned down to see what we had. Again, I peeled open the lid of the can, and again the snake exploded towards the opening. It was only then that my mother interrupted her conversation to say, "get that filthy thing out of this house". Apparently, Mom wasn't as impressed with our catch as we were.
Then we had one of those guardian angel moments. Our excitement undeterred, Joe and I walked out the front door and were met by a car pulling into the driveway. An old family friend named Fred was in town on business from Connecticut. We quickly ran over to him, hoping our snake might generate a more enthusiastic response. I repeated my can-opening ritual for a third time. However, this time our audience recognized exactly what the can contained. Fred said that the snake was a Copperhead and it was deadly! He told us to stay in the front yard while he took care of it. Joe and I watched as Fred took a shovel from the carport and disappeared around the back of the house with the can. A few minutes he returned with the shovel and an empty can. Fred told us that he buried the snake in the field and not to look for it because the snake's fangs were still poisonous. We always approached snakes with much more caution on our future adventures.
Dramatic moments aside, one of my favorite memories of the creek was when new construction extended the bottom of our street to the top of the hill in our backyard. My brothers and I were mesmerized by the parade of construction equipment that slowly cut their way up the hill. The new road went over the creek and a pipe was installed to allow the water to flow underneath. This created something new for us to investigate.
Surrounding the pipe was a field of rocks that had been unearthed by the bulldozers. We didn't give the rocks much notice. They only warranted our attention when we tried to climb down the slope of the creek and the sliding rocks created a minor avalanche. Splashing rocks scare frogs, so we always tried to be VERY careful navigating over them.
One day, I tripped and slid down the bank with a cascade of rocks and dust. As I scrambled to get up, I saw an unusual shape on one of the rocks. The rock contained the fossil of a fern! These insignificant annoyances suddenly became a great source of fascination. We found that the rocks split easily, and many more of them revealed the impressions of ferns and other strange shapes inside. Who would have imagined that a dirty old rock could contain such amazing ancient treasures? Inspecting each impression was like taking a peek at a secret past hidden by time. The thrill of that experience never left me and I have had rocks in my head ever since. Forty-two years later, this memory would serve as the inspiration for my latest book, FOSSIL.
In 1970, I was seven years old when my family moved to Roanoke, Virginia. It was there that my brothers and I began to experience and appreciate the wonders of nature. We moved into a new neighborhood with a beautiful sprawling countryside behind our house. The gentle downward slope of our backyard met a creek before turning upward into a great hill. Cows would graze on the weeds along the hill and often continue their daily feasting right up to our back patio.
My brothers and I loved to explore our new environment. We caught Monarch caterpillars that were hiding under the leaves of milkweed plants growing along the creek. They were absolutely beautiful creatures with silky-smooth skin and bands of green, black, and white wrapping around their chubby bodies. We kept the caterpillars in a bucket and used a tennis racquet for a lid. We fed them fresh milkweed plants until the day that we found chrysalis suspended from the strings of the tennis racquet. The chrysalis resembled jewels with little yellow beads lining their green polished exteriors. Weeks later, we returned from school to find Monarch butterflies erupting from their transparent encasements. Their miraculous transformation was complete. We watched in wonder as they aired out their wings and eventually lofted into the afternoon sky. I would later pay tribute to these butterflies in my book, CHALK. They were the only magical creation left at the end of the story.
The creek was always the source of our greatest adventures. In addition to the caterpillars on the milkweed plants, we pulled newts, frogs, tadpoles, turtles, and crayfish from the small creek's rippling clear waters. Each day was a new opportunity to investigate our aquatic backyard neighbors.
One day, my younger brother, Joe, and I were looking for newts when I spotted a small board at the water's edge. It should be noted that when exploring a creek, a discarded board almost always has an amazing treasure hidden beneath. On this occasion, turning the board over revealed something we had never seen before... a small reddish-brownish shape was uncoiling and stretching for the water. Before Joe could finish screaming the word, "snake!," I had scooped it up in my blue metal Maxwell House Coffee can and slapped the clear plastic lid on it. Joe and I looked at each other, and then I slowly lifted the lid so we could have a peek inside. The snake lunged towards our wide eyes, and I slapped the lid back down. In unison, my brother and I sprinted back up the incline towards our house, all the way shouting, "Mom, look at what we caught!"
We burst into the house and ran up the stairs to find Mom by the stove making supper. She was talking on the phone and we contorted our bodies under the outstretched phone cord to get closer and show her our catch. She continued her phone conversation and leaned down to see what we had. Again, I peeled open the lid of the can, and again the snake exploded towards the opening. It was only then that my mother interrupted her conversation to say, "get that filthy thing out of this house". Apparently, Mom wasn't as impressed with our catch as we were.
Then we had one of those guardian angel moments. Our excitement undeterred, Joe and I walked out the front door and were met by a car pulling into the driveway. An old family friend named Fred was in town on business from Connecticut. We quickly ran over to him, hoping our snake might generate a more enthusiastic response. I repeated my can-opening ritual for a third time. However, this time our audience recognized exactly what the can contained. Fred said that the snake was a Copperhead and it was deadly! He told us to stay in the front yard while he took care of it. Joe and I watched as Fred took a shovel from the carport and disappeared around the back of the house with the can. A few minutes he returned with the shovel and an empty can. Fred told us that he buried the snake in the field and not to look for it because the snake's fangs were still poisonous. We always approached snakes with much more caution on our future adventures.
Dramatic moments aside, one of my favorite memories of the creek was when new construction extended the bottom of our street to the top of the hill in our backyard. My brothers and I were mesmerized by the parade of construction equipment that slowly cut their way up the hill. The new road went over the creek and a pipe was installed to allow the water to flow underneath. This created something new for us to investigate.
Surrounding the pipe was a field of rocks that had been unearthed by the bulldozers. We didn't give the rocks much notice. They only warranted our attention when we tried to climb down the slope of the creek and the sliding rocks created a minor avalanche. Splashing rocks scare frogs, so we always tried to be VERY careful navigating over them.
One day, I tripped and slid down the bank with a cascade of rocks and dust. As I scrambled to get up, I saw an unusual shape on one of the rocks. The rock contained the fossil of a fern! These insignificant annoyances suddenly became a great source of fascination. We found that the rocks split easily, and many more of them revealed the impressions of ferns and other strange shapes inside. Who would have imagined that a dirty old rock could contain such amazing ancient treasures? Inspecting each impression was like taking a peek at a secret past hidden by time. The thrill of that experience never left me and I have had rocks in my head ever since. Forty-two years later, this memory would serve as the inspiration for my latest book, FOSSIL.
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