Archive for the ‘signings’ Category

I participated in a Mississippi Day Celebration at Sumrall Elementary School today.

A morning rainstorm forced the teachers to move the planned outdoor activities into the gymnatorium. That’s where I performed, too, in front of a very large audience — first, of kindergartners through second graders, and second, of third and fourth graders. The whole school (a very impressive 3-year-old facility) was decorated to celebrate Mississippi. As I did some set up in an adjoining classroom, I heard parts of an inspirational speech by a high school football coach. He had followed several beauty queens. I was feeling like I had some tough acts to follow — until I saw the guy who was up after me.

I appreciate the invitation from Kristi Williamson and the enthusiastic reception from the students and faculty at Sumrall Elementary School.

The final event during my recent Chicago trip was a joint effort with author Cheryl Bardoe. She and I learned of each other’s work when Cheryl’s husband, Matthew, reviewed Growing Patterns in draft form. Upon further acquaintance, Cheryl and I discovered we both write nonfiction books for children on science and math topics and we both graduated from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism (she’s younger than I am by enough years that our paths did not cross in Evanston).  When I was invited to present an informal talk, or a fireside, for current NU students at the Communications Residential College, I invited Cheryl to join me. I was an active member of the Humanities Residential College during my years at NU and helped form the Residential College Board. It was a lot of fun to be back in a residential college setting.

Before the fireside, I joined the students in the dining hall. Though I had taken some meals in that very place as an undergraduate, I noticed several changes for the better: an elimination of trays (for environmental reasons) and a stir fry bar, where I ordered a mixture of vegetables on a bed of brown rice.

Many of the CRC students are journalism majors, but a few come from other disciplines, including biology. Cheryl, the author of Gregory Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas and Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice Age, chronicled her path from journalism school graduate to public relations work with nonprofits to museum marketing to museum curatorial/education to children’s book author. She is now working on an MFA in writing with a concentration in writing for children.

Though Growing Patterns is the new book (and therefore the focus of much of my current marketing), the star of this particular event was clearly Wolfsnail. College students are just as taken with the idea of a predatory snail as kindergartners. In fact, when the students learned over dinner that I had brought a live wolfsnail, the word spread on the internet and swelled attendance. We had gathered in a nice circle to talk, but when I started reading Wolfsnail, the students to my right and left scrambled into position up front. Unfortunately, the snail stayed inside its shell. At least, the slugs provided some entertainment.

I thank Roger Boye, the CRC master, for the invitation; Nancy Anderson, from Residential Life, for helping arrange accommodation in a guest suite; Julie Kliegman, the CRC academic chair, for arranging the fireside; and Ariana Bacle, a social chair, for taking the photos in this post.

Upon arriving in Evanston, Ill., on the train, I walked straight to the Evanston Public Library. This was one of my favorite places as a child and where I got my first library card. I headed there immediately because I was carrying a stack of Growing Patterns books for my event later in the evening. Because Growing Patterns has gone into a second printing, copies are scarce in the warehouse so I hand carried some from the IRA annual conference. When I showed the librarian at the desk my wolfsnail, she invited Maria over to see what I had. Maria quickly named the prey snails after the other members of her family: Tarik and Esther. She and her Dad were considering how to say, “snail,” in Dutch and Arabic, which are Maria’s other languages. What a lucky little girl.

I forgot to ask someone to take photographs during my presentation at the library. I have only this one of me with David Orr, who was a buddy of my Dad’s when they were graduate students. A dozen or so friends from my early years in Evanston — including my godparents, neighbors, contemporaries of mine, and a few in the younger generation — came out to hear me give my talk on Wolfsnail: A Backyard Predator and Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers in Nature. At one point, I showed a slide of what I looked like “back in the day” when I lived in Evanston and at another I showed a picture of me sprawled on the ground taking photographs. Many friends were sure the second was a photograph of my mom, who has spent her fair share of time in awkward positions to get a good picture.

I am grateful to Janice Bojda, the library’s children’s librarian, for her help in setting up this event and for help selling books. There were signs all around that the economic downturn is squeezing resources for libraries and schools. My godparents told me of cutbacks at two local branches of the library and, even, a possible shutdown. Several newspapers had stories about teacher layoffs. In this environment, it was gratifying to meet teachers, librarians, and citizens, who have strong ties to libraries and who believe in raising the resources to keep schools strong, too. The next morning, I visited one of Evanston’s fine elementary schools, Martin Luther King Jr. Laboratory School. I appreciate the help of Shari Joffe, a King Lab mom, who arranged my visit and took photographs for me. We shared a nice lunch afterward, during which we talked about our work (she’s an editor of children’s books — mostly nonfiction).

Here are a few pictures from the first day:

Today I travel to Chicago for a half dozen fun events. First up, a workshop and signings at the International Reading Association Annual Convention. My editor, Andy Boyles, and my friend, Julie, a school librarian, will help me present a workshop titled “Seeing is Believing: Photography in Nonfiction,” which we designed to share strategies for using photography to teach reading and writing. My blog followers will recognize some of the activities we’ve done to prepare for this workshop. I will sign copies of Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers in Nature on Monday from 2 p.m. to 2:40 p.m. and on Tuesday from 11 a.m. until noon. In addition, we’ll share a meal with the good folks at the Highlights Foundation, including Kent Brown. I am looking forward to meeting Mary Alice Moore, our new lead editor at Boyds Mills Press.

On Wednesday, I’ll go a little further north to Evanston, my old stomping grounds from age 0-7 and college days at Northwestern. There, I’m doing a family event at the Evanston Public Library at 7 p.m. Wednesday, a school visit at Martin Luther King Jr. Laboratory Magnet School, a talk at Northwestern’s Office of Fellowships, a dinner with Residential College Board members and faculty advisers, and a fireside at the Communications Residential College.

I’ll also spend some time with friends who have known me since I was born, my godparents and the circle of friends that surrounded my parents when they were young parents. And, I’m having a dinner/slumber party with my college roommate, who lives in the greater Chicago area. I will do my best to report from the road, but I expect to be wildly busy. You may have to make do with pictures until I return.

I enjoyed my trip to Ocean City, Maryland, this week, where I talked to Maryland librarians about how Wolfsnail: A Backyard Predator came to be. I also accepted the Blue Crab Young Reader Award for Beginning Nonfiction.

I spent time with Janis Cooker, the chair of the Maryland Blue Crab Award committee, Jill Hutchinson, and Catherine DiCristofaro. They picked me up at the airport and took me out to dinner the night before my presentation. I learned about some interesting programming they are doing in the library system of St. Mary’s County — especially with children who are identified for early intervention services and hands-on science. Jill was among presenters for a pre-conference program titled Quality Programming for Pennies and Janis joined others to present on Creating Successful Cultural Connections for Preschoolers and their Families.

It was a big weekend for Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers in Nature. On Friday, I started the day as a guest on The Gestalt Gardener, a radio show on Mississippi Public Broadcasting hosted by Felder Rushing. We talked about the book and getting kids excited about the natural world, math, and gardening. I am a longtime listener to Felder’s show so I was familiar with its rhythms; Felder fielded about 8 calls and we fit our conversation in around them. The show was re-broadcast the next morning, which coincided with our signing at Lemuria. Many of our guests at the signing told us they had heard the show. I thank Felder and Ezra Wall, the show’s producer, for having me.

Lots of friends, old and new, came out for the signing, which began during Lemuria’s regular Saturday story hour. (Thank you, Patty, for taking photographs.) One attendee, named Kimberly, brought along an observation she wrote after spending some time talking about Fibonacci numbers and pinecones with her grandmother. (Her grandmother had heard the Gestalt Gardener show.)

Today is the reading and signing party at Lemuria. We’re looking forward to seeing young readers and their grownups at 10 a.m. for some Fibonacci fun!

After being on a blog tour all week (thanks to all of the hosts), we have the featured attraction right here. I interviewed Richard about his unique contribution to Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers in Nature.

This is the fun portrait I took of him when we were doing our publicity photo shoot. The powers that be at the publishing house wanted a straight (faced) shot for the catalog so I decided we’d use it here.

Hester Bass did a fabulous job at Power APAC today introducing visual arts students from grades 6 through 12 to the creative process of writing picture books. In the above photograph, she is reading from The Secret World of Walter Anderson, which was recently named one of Kirkus’ Best Children’s Books of 2009. Because she worked so closely with her fantastic illustrator, E.B. Lewis, she also shared much about the process of illustrating a picture book with watercolor paintings. Power APAC students had studied Walter Anderson’s work prior to Hester’s visit and had also done some historical research, but her tale sparked a renewed interest in his work and life.

Hester’s publicist at Candlewick worked with Mississippi Public Broadcasting to set up an interview for an online program titled Don’t Lecture Me. The show will go online in about two weeks.

Students provided a back drop for a mini-set on the Power APAC stage. It was a pleasure for me to see Hester in action. I always learn from my colleagues in this business. Hester’s stage presence was obvious from the moment she stepped in front of the students. She sang and she read. She encouraged the students to read, to write (and sketch) in journals, and to set goals. She got questions about publishing and about Walter Anderson. One student wanted to know about the Walter Anderson Museum in Ocean Springs.

My friend, Hester Bass, wrote an extraordinary picture book biography of Walter Anderson, a great American artist who did most of his work in Mississippi. Publisher’s Weekly called the The Secret World of Walter Anderson, published by Candlewick Press, “a powerful tribute to the lengths artists will go for their passions.” A starred reivew in Kirkus said it was “a gorgeous chronicle of a versatile southern American artist.”

The story is illustrated by E.B. Lewis; an additional 8-page author’s note gives more details about Anderson’s life and includes photographs of his paintings, linocuts, and decorations on pottery. I interviewed Hester last month at the Writing and Illustrating for Kids conference put on by the Southern Breeze regional chapter of SCBWI. Click on the play button below to hear why Hester wrote the book and to hear her read an excerpt.

Hester is heading to Mississippi next week for a brief tour that will include stops in Jackson and Vicksburg. She’ll be signing books at the Mississippi Museum of Art on Saturday, Nov. 14; Lemuria bookstore on Sunday, Nov. 15; and she’ll be doing a school visit at my kids’ school, Power Academic and Performing Arts Complex, on Tuesday, Nov. 17. You can catch her in Vicksburg at Lorelei Books on Monday, November 16. Click on Hester’s website or on the venue’s links to check times for the public events. Hester, who once delivered singing telegrams, is an engaging performer and her book would make an excellent gift for the kids, teachers, and art lovers on your Christmas list.

Please let me know if you like the video interview. I am experimenting with using more video on my blog. I’d like to use more video to show my work process with photography. Let me know what you think.