Back to school.
Deep breath.
Slow cup of tea.
Deep breath.
Back to work.
(Good luck to all the children starting school this week, and to all the parents, like me, adjusting to it!)
Rhythm
The Coolest (Library)Thing
Hurricane Irene has come and gone, and aside from a couple downed limbs in the yard, we Burnses survived mostly unscathed. But we were stuck in the house all day yesterday, and that was … trying. At least until I drifted over to LibraryThing. I’ve been a member for a while, but hadn’t visited recently. Yesterday, I decided to update my Author profile and be sure that no one was saying anything icky about my books. (Ha!)
One thing led to another and, well, guess what? I began cataloguing my home library. I am not kidding.
(In my defense, it rained for a long, long, long time. LONG.)
Anyway, I love organizing and I love books, and now I have an excellent way to combine the two. Cataloguing my entire library is going to take a while, but yesterday I managed to get through some of my favorite nonfiction collections: biographies and Scientists in the Field books. If you are a LibraryThing user, you can check it out here. And be sure to say hello over there so I can see your library!
Edited to add: The colorful banner at the top of this post was created by one of my kids a while ago, and seemed appropriate for this post. Don’t know what I’ll do when I start cataloguing fiction …
Wednesday Wild: One Cozy Nest
I wish I could figure out a way to make a better photo of this massive bald-faced hornet nest. It’s hanging from a Japanese maple in my back yard, about three feet off the ground. When I first noticed it earlier in the summer, it was the size of my fist. Now it’s bigger than a Chihuahuaua. The hornets that call this masterpiece home have been busy this week, and I didn’t dare interrupt them for a photo shoot. (Um, yes, I was scared to get any closer. These are NOT honey bees!)
If I can keep Mr. Burns from finding and removing the nest, I’ll take another pic in a couple months, when the hornets have died off.
Here’s hoping there’s some wild in your Wednesday …
Mud Pies and Other Recipes
MUD PIES AND OTHER RECIPES: A COOKBOOK FOR DOLLS
By Marjorie Winslow
Illustrated by Erik Blegvad
Walker and Company, 1961
Category: Hands-on Children’s Nonfiction
“Doll cookery is not a very exacting art,” Marjorie Winslow admits in the foreword to this irresistible tribute to that staple of an outdoor childhood: making mudpies. “If a recipe calls for a cupful of something, you can use a measuring cup or a teacup or a buttercup.” The pages that follow are filled with whimsical recipes, plenty of natural ingredients (pine cones, acorn caps, shredded marigold blossoms, and fresh rainwater, to name a few) and endless options for the backyard chef.
How do you toss a Seesaw salad? “Arrange yourself on a seesaw with the bowl in front of you and a friend at the other end. Toss as long as it’s fun, or until well blended.” Of course.
Too tired to cook up a fancy meal? Try a quick Mud Puddle Soup: “Find a mud puddle after a rainstorm and seat your dolls around it. Serve.”
My daughter’s copy of MUD PIES was a gift from a friend more than five years ago, and it looks like a well-loved and much-used cookbook should: dog-eared, annotated, splattered with berry juice, and crunchy with crumbs (of sand). When she pulls it out and starts to cook, I’m mesmerized; this is a book that was first published nearly a decade before I was born, after all, and she and I can still play at it for hours. Here’s a recipe we wrote together this past week, during a soggy couple days near the beach in Rhode Island. It gives you a flavor for the sort of creativity this gem of a book inspires:
Late Summer Beach Soup
Place 6 rain-soaked rose hips in the bottom of a small saucepan. Cover with fresh seawater. Simmer gently on a patch of grass, stirring occasionally, until the sun comes out. Before serving, add shredded beach roses and a sprinkling of sand. Ladle into bowls and serve immediately.
Bon Appetit!
Edited to add: Check out a round-up of today’s Nonfiction Monday posts over at Ana’s Nonfiction Blog.
Especially for Science Teachers
It’s a linky kind of Friday …
Today I’ve got some links especially for science teachers. I’ll add this post to today’s STEM Friday round-up, but please feel free to forward it to the science teachers in your life, too.
First up, the American Museum of Natural History has published its slate of online classes for the fall, and they are pretty cool. (Space, Time, and Motion, anyone?) You’ll find full listings and course descriptions at the AMNF Seminars on Science webpage.
Also, the National Research Council has compiled a new framework for improved K-12 science education standards in the United States, and their report is available online for free. Go to the National Academies Press website and scroll to the “Dowload Free PDF” button. (Free registration is required in order to download.) I’ve begun reading it myself and am encouraged by the call to move science education away from rote memorization of facts and toward a hands-on approach wherein students actively participate in the scientific process. I know the transition to more experiential learning in the science classroom won’t be easy to implement, but good gravy, won’t it be more fun?
Finally, in the spirit of encouraging kids and teachers to actively participate in the scientific process, a sneak peak at my upcoming book about citizen science is now available on Goodreads. (You must be a Goodreads member to access the page; becoming one is free and easy.) If you read the chapter, I’d love to know what you think.
A round-up of posts from the kidlitosphere on the topics of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) can be found at Wrapped in Foil today. Check it out, and happy clicking!
Wednesday Wild: An Introduction
© Loree Griffin Burns
Lotsa new on the old blog this week: new platform, new colors, new sidebars, new, new, new. Why not add a new feature? I have long been intrigued by the Wordless Wednesday posts seen here and there around the blogosphere, because photographs make me happy. But it turns out I’m not so good at the wordless part. (Shocking, I know.) Anyway, I’ve reworked the concept a bit. Welcome to my first Wednesday Wild post. A photo from somewhere in my wild world. A few words. A new weekly feature.
So … that there is a house wren, and it is raising a family in my garden. I’m not sure yet how many babies are in the birdhouse, but its enough to make a decent racket when they are hungry. I hid in a blind of sunflowers for forty-five minutes yesterday, listening to the squawk and taking pictures. They were some of the best minutes of the day.
Promote Your Book
PROMOTE YOUR BOOK: OVER 250 PROVEN, LOW-COST TIPS AND TECHNIQUES FOR THE ENTERPRISING AUTHOR
by Patricia Fry
Allworth Press, 2011
Category: Nonfiction for writers
Back in 2004, I had a good premise for a children’s book … and no clue what to do with it. I had done enough research to know that what I needed was a strong book proposal with which to pitch my idea to publishers, but I didn’t know how to write one. So I took a class.
And Patricia Fry taught me everything I needed to know. In six weeks, I had refined my book idea, written a solid book proposal, and drafted a professional cover letter to go with it. I sent the entire package to Houghton Mifflin shortly after the class ended, and was eventually offered a contract.
In 2007, I had a new children’s book … and no idea how to help get the word out about it. So I bought a book.
Once again, Patricia Fry taught me what I needed to know. I launched my website, started a blog, and learned to promote myself better, both online and in person.
Not surprisingly, when Patricia asked to interview me for her latest endeavor, a book for writers on the subject of book promotion, I was thrilled and honored to participate. And today I’m happy to let you know that PROMOTE YOUR BOOK: OVER 250 PROVEN, LOW-COST TIPS AND TECHNIQUES FOR THE ENTERPRISING AUTHOR is available to the public. It is just what I expected: a treasure trove of useful marketing tips and ideas for anyone with a book to sell, be it your first or your fifty-first, be it traditionally published or self published.
Well done, Patricia. And great timing; I’ll be reading PROMOTE YOUR BOOK as I prepare to launch CITIZEN SCIENTISTS this spring …
Things Found Afield
No, I didn’t find a kite.
In the photo above, I’m actually holding a throw ball line as Dr. Maya Nehme, a scientist studying Asian longhorned beetles, works to maneuver a heavier rope into the canopy of a tree. Technically, Ellen and I were along to watch Dr. Nehme work, and to gather details for our upcoming book on these gnarly beetles and the damage they are causing here in North America. But there was a moment when Dr. Nehme needed an extra set of hands, and I was nearby. (Thank you, Ellen, for catching it on film!)
Aside from holding the occasional throw ball line, I spent the morning gathering tiny details that will help me describe fieldwork like this in the book. I was hunting for specifics: small ideas, surprising imagery, unusual sounds, things that hadn’t come up during the interview process but which might help make my text come alive for readers. Like the fact that each scientist had his or her own method for getting the throw ball up over a branch. (I saw an underhand toss, an overhand rocket, and a magnificently simple and effective between the legs heave. Who knew?)
And there was this: When you are hanging beetle traps from the branches of trees, you spend most of your time looking up. And do you know what happens when you walk around an urban forest all morning with your eyes looking up? You trip. A lot. I did it, and I saw the scientists do it, too. Nice detail.
My absolute favorite detail of the morning was this one: Before hanging a trap, scientists have to measure the trap tree’s diameter. No big deal, right? Someone simply unfurls a tape measure, wraps it around the trunk, and records the number. But if the tree being measured is just the right size, then recording its diameter requires one to hug the tree, to stretch both arms around the trunk while passing the tape measure from one hand to the other. The sight of a beetle scientist with his arms wrapped around a trunk was poignant and loaded with symbolism; don’t know if I’ll ever use that nugget of an image, but I am certainly glad to have stumbled across it.
Blizzard of Glass
BLIZZARD OF GLASS: THE HALIFAX EXPLOSION OF 1917
By Sally M. Walker
Henry Holt, 2011
Category: Middle Grade/Young Adult Nonfiction
I picked up an Advance Reader’s Edition of this book at the annual conference of the American Library Association last month. Technically, I am too biased to review it: Sally Walker is a friend and Henry Holt is publishing my own next book. But I’m not the sort of girl that would let those things sway her into praising a book she didn’t love … and I love this book too much not to sing about it.
In 1917, a ship carrying munitions into Halifax Harbor collided with another ship, setting off what was then the largest man-made explosion in history. The accident happened on an otherwise humdrum December morning, and Sally Walker tells the story perfectly, bringing readers into Halifax, showing them around, feeding them breakfast, walking them to school, and leading them, moment by painstaking moment, toward the disaster that changed the community forever. She gives special attention to those facets of the story that will most intrigue young people, and she does so with respect and care for both her subjects and her readers.
This is narrative nonfiction at its finest, folks. A page-turner right out of the history books, a disaster story told not for its shock value, but for its enduring value. Today’s kids are surrounded by disaster—natural or manmade, real or in sound-byte. To some of them, it may feel as if disaster is a new thing, as if dealing with it is something humans are not equipped for. The fact is—and BLIZZARD OF GLASS readers come to understand this—we humans have dealt with disaster for our entire history. And time and again, we’ve come together, in community, to help one another through. That message rings powerfully in this book, and its why I made sure both my tweens had a chance to read it before I passed it along, with rave reviews, to my town librarian.
BLIZZARD OF GLASS will be available in bookstores on November 22, 2011. Don’t miss it!
Edited to add:
It’s Nonfiction Monday, which means a gaggle of bloggers are talking about children’s nonfiction. You can see a roundup of today’s offerings at the proseandkahn blog. As always, you can read up on Nonfiction Monday celebrations at the official website.
ALA 2011
The American Library Association Annual Conference kicks off on Friday in New Orleans, and I’m super excited because I’LL BE THERE! I’m teaming up with nine fantastic nonfiction writers in a massive celebration of writing and reading and sharing nonfiction. Here are the details:
Nonfiction Book Blast: Booktalks and Activities for Your Library
Sunday June 26, 2011, 8am-10am
Morial Convention Center Room 243
Start school with new booktalks and activities from ten nonfiction authors: April Pulley Sayre (Rah, Rah, Radishes), Kelly Milner Halls (In Search of Sasquatch), Deborah Heiligman (Charles and Emma), Loree Griffin Burns (The Hive Detectives), Carla Killough McClafferty (The Many Faces of George Washington), Christine Taylor-Butler (Magnets), Shirley Duke (You Can’t Wear These Genes), Darcy Pattison (Prairie Storms), Carla Mooney (Explorers of the New World) and Anastasia Suen (Read and Write Sports). (Handouts)
I’ll also be signing books in the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt booth (#1539-1540) immediately after the presentation and until 11am. I’ve packed scads of honey candy, so please do stop by.
For a complete list of all the Book Blast authors and their signing schedules, visit our blog.
Safe travels!