My New Home on the Web

final-burns-header

I’m thrilled to have launched my new website this week. Please click over and check out the fun, including …

A page dedicated to my new picture book, Handle with Care;

Teacher Resource pages for Handle with Care;

A page dedicated to my upcoming Scientists in the Field title, Beetle Busters;

My very own bookstore!

As happy as I am about the new digs, it is bittersweet leaving this blog behind. My new site has room for all the things I do here, though, and simplifying my online presence makes good sense. I’ll leave this blog here as I transition some of its content over, but I’ll not be posting anything new.

So, my friends, thanks for reading. And please do come on over and visit me at www.loreeburns.com!

NSTA Annual Conference 2014

IMG_0071cadj

 

I’m excited to be speaking at this years National Science Teachers Association annual conference in Boston, Massachusetts. You can find general information on the conference website, including a complete schedule and registration information. I’ll be at the conference all day on Saturday, April 5, and I’d love to see you at one of these venues:

 

12:30-1:30pm, Room 259A, Presentation

How Can I Help? Empowering Students with Citizen Science

Scientist and author Loree Griffin Burns explores citizen science as a means of empowering students and elementary science teachers in an age of environmental uncertainty.

 

2:00-3:00pm, Macmillan Booth (#818), Book Signing

I’ll be signing copies of Citizen Scientists: Be a Part of Scientific Discovery in Your Own Backyard.

3:00-3:30pm, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Booth (#1021), Book Signing

I’ll be signing copies of Tracking Trash and The Hive Detectives and sharing a sneak peak of my upcoming Scientists in the Field title. Come on by!

 

 

New England SCBWI Spring Conference

facultybadge

I’m thrilled to join the faculty of the 2014 New England Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators annual spring conference. This year’s event will be held at the Sheraton in Springfield, Massachusetts from Friday, May 2 through Sunday, May 4. There is still time to register, so click on over to the conference website.

If nonfiction is your thing, check out my workshops. Both are scheduled for Saturday:

 

Crafting a Nonfiction Book Proposal, presented by Loree Griffin Burns

In today’s trade market, most books of children’s nonfiction are sold to publishers in proposal form. That is, the book idea is pitched in a specific abridged format and the final book is only written when a publisher accepts the proposal. This workshop is designed to shine a light on this process, to introduce attendees to the basic elements of the book proposal, and to provide tools for turning nonfiction book ideas into strong, sellable proposals.

 

Writers as Architects: Building Structure in Nonfiction, presented by Loree Griffin Burns and Alexandra Siy

Alexandra Siy and Loree Griffin Burns write nonfiction books that rely on a variety of literary structures to convey information. In this presentation, these award-winning authors will explore their view of structure as an essential guiding force in the creation of solid works of nonfiction, and share the processes they use to determine the best structure for a given project. Attendees will explore a variety of structural shapes as they are represented in contemporary children’s nonfiction, and will leave the hour with a stronger grasp of how these structures—from the straight line of chronologically-told stories to the circles, spirals, towers and constellations of more inventive approaches—can be used to gird their own works of nonfiction.

 

Cleaning Up (Temporarily)

© Loree Griffin Burns
© Loree Griffin Burns

That right there is my new vegetable garden. You can’t tell yet, but this corner is home to the spinach, the lettuce, the rhubarb (see the two lonely plants?) and the asparagus. It’s been cold and wettish here in New England this spring, which means the work is slow. Also, it means that I’ve been a muddy mess for weeks. But today I’m spiffing up and getting myself ready for something more civilized: a literary road trip.

First: school visits. I’m looking forward to stops in Cherry Hill, New Jersey and Wallkill, New York in the coming days. It’s fun to meet the parents and teachers and library specialists who help coordinate these visits, and I’m thrilled that my days of talking science with these particular students, long planned, are finally here.

I’ve got a couple public events to tell you about, too …

On Saturday, April 27, I’ll give a family-friendly presentation on citizen science at the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History. This event is free to Museum members and $5 for non-members; if you are in the area, please join us.

The very next weekend– Friday, May 3 and Saturday, May 4–I’ll be in New York City for the PEN World Voices Literary Festival.  I’ll be reading as part of the A Literary Safari and speaking alongside authors Eliot Schrefer and Padma Venkatramen on a children’s literature panel called Braving our Endangered World. (Venue locations and ticket pricing can be found at the links.) This Festival promises to be magnificent: talented authors, incredible venues, endless creativity throughout the city, throughout the week; do check out the website for details.

After that? Back to the mud, I suspect.

ps. One of the best parts of a road trip? Audio books, of course. I’m bringing this one and this one.

 

The Sweet and the Not-So-Sweet

THDsoftcover

 

Sweet news: the paperback edition of The Hive Detectives was released this week. You can purchase a copy through your local independent bookseller (click here) or by visiting your nearest brick and mortar bookstore.

Even more sweet news: At the time the new edition went to press, I was able to write a Research Update that included this line: “The most recent survey of U.S. beekeepers indicates that fewer honey bee colonies were lost in 2011-2012 than in the five years prior.”

Not-so-sweet news:  Less than a year later, the news is less rosy: scientists and beekeepers now think the winter of 2012-2013 may have been the worst on record for honey bees.

Clearly our honey bees are still in trouble. What can you do? Educate yourself about bees and other pollinators. (The Hive Detectives is a good start, as are the books found here.) If you are a landowner, provide good pollinator habitat. And, of course, consider becoming a beespotter or a honey bee citizen scientist.

 

 

Got Plans Tonight?

GRW_Logo_2013_thumb

 

At 7pm tonight (Wednesday, March 20, 2013), I’ll join several central Massachusetts writers in a panel discussion at the Groton Public Library. This event kicks of a month-long celebration of reading and writing that is built around a town-wide reading of Stephen King’s book ON WRITING. (How cool is that?) We panelists plan to talk about the book and our reactions to it, and to share our own experiences with the art and business of telling (& selling) stories.

Who will be there, you ask? Check it out …

Cal Armistead

Ann Haywood Leal

Greg R. Fishbone

David S. Brody

Loree Griffin Burns

Not a bad way to spend the first night of spring, right? Come on down! Join us!

 

 

March Public Events

MicStudents
Courtesy Carol Gordon Ekster

Attention Massachusetts teachers, librarians, writers, and readers! I’m participating in a couple free local events in the coming month, and one or both may be interesting to you. Here are the details …

Educator Appreciation Week

March 8-12, 2013

Annie’s Book Stop of Worcester

65 James Street, Worcester, MA

Events are held each evening at 7pm and include local authors and shopping discounts for teachers. I’ll be at Annie’s on Monday night to talk to teachers and librarians (and whoever else pops in!) about science in the classroom and my books, but there are authors scheduled every night. Check out the full lineup of speakers and topics at the Annie’s Book Stop blog.

Groton READS & WRITES Author Panel

March 19, 2013 at 7pm

Groton Public Library

99 Main Street, Groton, MA

This event is part of Groton’s super-cool townwide celebration of reading and writing. The entire town is reading Steven King’s ON WRITING (!) and then gathering for a series of panel discussions, writing workshops, open mic nights, and author visits. Check out the full details on the official Groton READS & WRITES webpage.

A word on the photo: Linda Coviello and I both graduated from Everett High School and were both inspired by our biology teacher there, Mr. James Micarelli. We met this past Monday at the Massachsuetts State Library Association conference and had a grand old time praising our teacher-hero.