Category: Blog

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February 12 Fill-in-the-Blank Book Club

Hello, reader friends!

Popping in to share the topic of our next Fill-in-the-Blank Book Club event. We’ll be meeting in person at the Beaman Memorial Public Library in West Boylston, Massachusetts on Thursday, February 12 at 6:30 pm, but you can join us virtually by reading and sharing your thoughts here.

Our topic this time around is ‘The Other.’

In a time when our world feels divided, let’s use books and our own intentions to bring it a little closer, shall we? Find a book outside your own culture or your own experience, read it, learn from it, and then share what you find with the rest of us.  I kicked off my own reading for this session with #NotYourPrincess: VOICES OF NATIVE AMERICAN WOMEN, and was drawn in by vivid art and compelling words. I was also blown away by Dashka Slater’s THE 57 BUS. And I’ve got a copy of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME on deck in my reading pile.

Explore. Read. Learn. Then join us to spread your (book) love.

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STEMinist Booklist, an NCTE18 Handout

Welcome to all the NCTE18 attendees who joined our Finding Their STEMinist Voice: How Informational Texts Can Inspire Girls presentation on Friday morning. Thanks so much for being part of this important conversation.

Here is our booklist handout: STEMinist Handout

And here is our online resources handout: STEMinist Online Resources

We hope you and your students love these books and web resources as much as we do!

 

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1968: The Audio Book

These beauties arrived in the mail yesterday: audio versions (one digital, one on CD) of 1968: TODAY’S AUTHORS EXPLORE A YEAR OF REBELLION, REVOLUTION, AND CHANGE. This is the first time my work has been presented in audio, and I’m thrilled to give the entire collection a listen. If you’d like a taste, visit the 1968 page on the Brilliance Audio website for a short clip from the introduction, which details the thirteen authors and their stories. Enjoy!

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NCTE 2018

I’m thrilled to be attending the 2018 Annual Convention of the National Council of Teachers of English in Houston Texas next month. In addition to the presentations described in the infographics above, I’m honored to be attending the Children’s Book Award Luncheon on Saturday, November 17; my latest book, Life on Surtsey: Iceland’s Upstart Island, was an Orbis Pictus recommended title this year. I’ll be signing books at the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt booth after the luncheon, beginning at 3pm.

I’d love to see you at any or all of these events!

 

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Thank you, Marion Cross School!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was warm and cozy in the Marion Cross School library in Norwich, Vermont yesterday, despite the freezing rain outside. Thank you to librarian extraordinaire, Joy Blongewicz, for hosting my visit and ENDLESS cheers for the curious kids who showed up to explore science stories together. You rock!

1st and 2nd graders: 
I am still trying to figure out what that black and white caterpillar is. Stay tuned!
 
3rd graders:
Thanks for your input and ideas about the new bee book. Let’s keep spreading the buzz!
 
4th and 5th graders:
How’s that American toad homework going?
 
6th graders:
Keep sharing and refining your ideas for ocean cleanup and plastic solutions. THE WORLD NEEDS THEM.
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My Beginning

I spent part of this past weekend with the leadership team of the Women’s Impact Network, a group of Worcester Polytechnic Institute alumnae and friends committed to elevating the impact of women before, during, and after their time at WPI. It was a remarkable weekend filled with passionate conversations, deep thinking, and exciting plans. I left inspired, as I always am, by the women who drive this organization and its work. And I’ve been thinking since about a conversation I’ve had so many times in the past ten years or so. It always starts something like this:

Him or Her: “You went to an engineering college?”

Me: “Yep. Worcester Polytechnic Institute. WPI for short.”

Him or Her: “Go figure. I mean, you write children’s books. Do you wish you could go back and choose college all over again?”

These folks seem to think that attending WPI was a mistake for me, since I went on to make a career in words. Nothing could be further from the truth. As proof (you know how we scientists love to cite evidence) I offer this snapshot of my Sufficiency, a humanities requirement for all WPI undergraduates. I was twenty years old when I submitted ‘Realism in Contemporary Children’s Literature.’ In it I wrote that we humans face “menaces and cruelties” in abundance, but as a society “have chosen not to ignore these atrocities, but to deal with them—maybe even begin to rectify them—by helping our children to grow up understanding these darker aspects of our world through the literature we give to them as they grow.”

My STEM education at WPI was not a misstep. It was the beginning.

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A Luna Story

The other night I had some friends over to look for moths. (What? You’ve never done that? I think once you read the book Ellen Harasimowicz and I are making about it, you will want to!*)

Anyway, we were moth-ing and were thrilled when three luna moths showed up at once. A friend and moth expert, Teá Kesting-Handly, pointed out that one of these lunas was not only female, but very worn in the wings. This is a good indication that she has been an adult long enough to have mated. Teá picked her up of the sheet she was hanging on and said, “Take her inside!”

“Inside my house?” I asked, a little surprised.

“Well, if you put her gently in a paper bag and leave her on the counter overnight. she might lay eggs on the inside of the bag. In the morning, you can set her free … and if there are eggs, you can raise them.”

Here’s the rest of the story …

 

Come to think of it, this is the beginning of a story, isn’t it? Stay tuned!

 

* For sneak peak images and behind-the-scenes stories from the making of the moth book this summer, check out my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram feeds. You’re Invited to a Moth Ball, written by me and illustrated with photographs by Ellen, is coming from Charlesbridge Publishing in 2020.

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You’re Invited …

Photographer Ellen Harasimowicz and I are working on a new book this summer. Can you guess what it’s about?

Hint #1: We have to stay up later than we are used to in order to do our research and collect our images.

Hint #2:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stay tuned for the next couple months, because this is going to be fun!

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Book Signing in Belmont, MA

Next week, I’ll join a slew of local authors for a couple great joint events in Belmont, Massachusetts. First, a book festival at Chenery Middle School (3-5:30pm) and later, a signing at Belmont Books (6:30pm). Both events are free and open to the public, and all sales benefit the Chenery Library. For addresses and a full list of participating authors, check out this flyer: