© Loree Griffin Burns
Science Books & Film Prize
I was thrilled to learn last week that Handle with Care has been named a finalist for the AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books in the Middle Grade category. Click here to see the entire list of finalists in all categories. It’s an honor to sit in the company of such great books for kids. Thank you AAAS, Subaru, and SB&F!
Happy Halloween!
For your Halloween viewing pleasure, and with thanks to the fine folks at Science Friday, a horror movie featuring bees, zombie flies, and citizen science. Enjoy!
2014 NCTE Conference & ALAN Workshop
I’m thrilled to be part of this year’s National Council of Teachers of English annual conference in National Harbor, Maryland. Here’s where I’ll be during the festivities:
Friday, November 21
12:30-1:45pm
Scientists in the Field, Scientists in the Classroom: Using Informational Texts with Students
A workshop with Joan Kindig and author Elizabeth Rusch.
2:00-3:00pm
I’ll be signing books in the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt booth.
I’ll be staying on in National Harbor for the 2014 Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the NCTE (ALAN) Workshop. Here’s where you’ll find me:
Monday, November 24
3:15-4:00pm
Common Core: Bridge or Barrier?
A panel discussion of the opportunities presented by using vibrant nonfiction books in the classroom, including authors Andrew Aydin, Loree Griffin Burns, Sy Montgomery, George O’Connor, Elizabeth Rusch, and Steve Sheinkin.
4:00-4:30pm
I’ll be signing books with the super-fab authors above immediately after the event.
Book Launch News!
Today, October 7, 2014, is Publication Day for Beetle Busters! Photographer Ellen Harasimowicz and I are planning two launch parties to celebrate. We’ll share our favorite beetle-tracking adventures and books will be available for purchase and signing at both events. We hope you’ll join us at one … or both!
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Beaman Memorial Library
8 Newton Street
West Boylston, MA 01583
6-8pm
Monday, November 17, 2014
Harvard Public Library
4 Pond Road
Harvard, MA 01451
6:30-8pm
A New Place
Hello!
Welcome to my new digs!
It makes good sense to move my blog over here to my new web page. This is a much more logical place for you to read my web musings. BUT the process of getting several years of content moved over here is cumbersome. And time-consuming. Please bear with me.
While you are waiting, please feel free to visit my old blog at its original location here.
My New Home on the Web
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;
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!
Happy New (Book) Year!
Ellen Harasimowicz and I are kicking off 2014 with the release of our latest collaboration: a picture book about some very special butterfly lives. HANDLE WITH CARE is published by Millbrook Press and was officially released today. We hope you’ll love this story as much as we do.
Happy New Year!
Wednesday Wild: Ring-necked pheasants
I can already hear you …
Seriously, Loree? You expect us believe that picture shows two male ring-necked pheasants walking along the road?
Yes. Yes I do. Because I did see two male ring-necked pheasants walking along the road. I did! And even thought I didn’t have my camera and it was pouring rain and I was in the car and my daughter had to take a couple shots through the car window using my cell phone … these pictures clearly show the only thing you need to remember about this post: ring-necked pheasants are worth seeing in the wild.
Have an adventure today. Bring your camera.
(All photos © Catherine Griffin Burns)
Blog Hop Part Two: Beetle Busters
Photos © Ellen Harasimowicz
In today’s installment of the Blog Hop, I’m going to answer a few questions about my newest writing project. I’m super excited to start talking about this book, because getting to this moment was–how shall I put this?–WICKED HARD. Of all the books I’ve written, this was the toughest to figure out. But I did, and soon you’ll be able to read it. Below are some questions about the project from the magnificent Sarah Albee, along with my answers. And if you’re confused about this Blog Hop business, just click on over to Part One of this post.
Sarah: What are you working on right now?
I’m working on a new Scientists in the Field book called BEETLE BUSTERS: A ROGUE INSECT AND THE PEOPLE WHO TRACK IT. It’s in design now, so I can’t show you the cover yet. (It doesn’t even exist!) But I can share the photos above, which are just a few of the scads of seriously cool images taken by Ellen Harasimowicz for this book.Sarah Albee: Where did the idea for this book come from?
The subject —Asian longhorned beetles—found me, actually, and it wasn’t easy. Here’s a simplified version of what happened:- A pair of gnarly-looking but harmless beetles from Asia chewed their way into the heart of a poplar tree in the middle of a forest in China.
- The tree was cut down and its wood used to make shipping pallets.
- One such pallet was shipped from China all the way to Worcester, Massachusetts, where I live.
- The beetles—a male and a female—survived the tree-chopping, the wood-cutting, the pallet-building, and the worldwide-shipping. They chewed their way out of the pallet, mated, and founded a family of Asian longhorned beetles in a new land.
- About ten years later, my husband and I bought a house in that new land.
- About ten years after that, the beetle family–by then enormous–was wreaking havoc in the forests near our house.
- A massive program was undertaken to eradicate the beetle and, paradoxically, to study it. BEETLE BUSTERS is the story of that program, the men and women carrying it out, and the hard decisions involved in its success.
Sarah Albee: Why do you write what you do?
Because stories about our natural world and the people who explore it thrill me. And when I find a story that particularly intrigues me, I can’t rest until I’ve found a way to share it with like-minded people.Sarah Albee: What is the hardest part about writing?
The first draft. For me, its always the first draft. (*deep, troubled sigh*) I’ve been wondering for a while now why first drafts are so hard for me. I’ve come to think that its not the writing of the draft itself that trips me up, but the process of finding structure. Until I’ve figured out where to start my story, where to end it, and how to carry readers through its middle, I tend to flail about. Once I’ve got a good structure, though, things slip into place. How do I find the best structure for a given story? By drafting and thinking and drafting and tinkering and drafting and drafting and drafting. It’s a slow process, which is why I find it so hard. Thanks for inviting me to be part of the Blog Hop, Sarah!