I'm thrilled to head out to Denver next week to attend the annual conference of the National Council of Teachers of English. Ever since they awarded CAVES an Orbis Pictus Recommended Title award for Outstanding Nonfiction, I have come every year.

I am on two wonderful and very different panels this year. The first one is: WHAT IF It's Not Boring: Dreaming Up Innovative Text Structures to Inspire Young Writers. Session Code 2: F.50 “Pick your path” adventures. Counting and rhyming. Virtual field trips. Comic book style. Pondering . . . is it a butt? Or a face? Join this panel of nonfiction authors who dreamed of innovative ways to go beyond boring facts. With actionable student writing activities and bold library-building mentor texts, this panel will wake up a new sense of possibilities in your classroom. I'll be with Melissa Taylor, Beth Anderson, Amy Seto Forrester, Kari Lavelle, and Dana Marie Miroballi. I'm in awe of them!

My second panel immediately afterward is in partnership with the South Nevada Writing Project...and there will be writing activities as part of the program!

Writers Inspiring Writers: How Both Authors and Students Use Mentor Texts to Achieve Their Writing Dreams
Session Code 2: G.50  Dream with NCTE award-winning authors, Southern Nevada Writing Project directors, and teacher-consultants in this presentation inspiring educators to help young writers dream and create. Participants will engage in writing, learn that writing does not happen in isolation—even award-winning authors are inspired by other writers—and discuss how to use mentor texts to foster classroom writing.

​The authors joining me are Jolene Gutiérrez, Laura Purdie Salas, and Michelle Schaub. Dr. Sophie Ladd and others from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas will moderate.
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Please note that I will be signing FORESTS ***before*** my panels at 10am in Scholastic booth #200
I look forward to seeing you there!

Thank you to all who came out to celebrate Forests! And a special thank you to my husband who helped me with the puppets.

Please join me to celebrate the launch of FORESTS at Children's Book World, 10580 West Pico Blvd, Los Angeles. I'll bring puppets and you can take the What Forest Are You? personality quiz. There MIGHT also be some sweet treats :) See you there!

Come join me and my puppets for a fun and educational story time! We'll learn about amazing forests all over the world and what we can do to help them. Part of the author's proceeds will be donated to the National Park Foundation and the National Forests Foundation.

I'm so excited to attend my first American Association of School Librarians conference! I will be signing FORESTS at four different times, and participating in a fantastic panel with authors Melissa Stewart, Charles R. Smith, and librarian Tom Bobe. Come say hi!

I'm so pleased that Forests received a lovely starred review from Kirkus. You can read the full review here.

I'm so honored to share that FROM PARK TO PLAYA: THE TRAILS THAT CONNECT US (illustrated by Sophie Diao and published by Cameron Kids/Abrams) has been selected by California State First Partner, Jennifer Seibold Newsom, as part of her First Partner's Book Club. Even more exciting--I got to spend the morning with her presenting at Altadena Public Library and giving away copies to the kids who attended! 

The First Partner and I bonded over our mutual love reading, libraries, and California parks as places to bring community together and get kids off screens. Doing a storytime with her is an event I will never forget!

I'm SUPER excited to attend the American Library Association Annual Conference this weekend. Not only will it be amazing to see all my librarian and author friends, but it will be my first time seeing FORESTS in person...and my first time meeting the illustrator of CAVES, VOLCANOES, and FORESTS, Kalen Chock! 

If you are coming to the conference, please come see us on Saturday from 12-1pm at the Scholastic Booth #1805 (write it down because Scholastic tends to not list their author signing in the main ALA directory!)

I'm thrilled to share that Volcanoes, illustrated by Kalen Chock and published by Scholastic, has been named to the American Librarian Association Notable Book List.

According to the Notables Criteria, "notable" is defined as: Worthy of note or notice, important, distinguished, outstanding. As applied to children's books, notable should be thought to include books of especially commendable quality, books that exhibit venturesome creativity, and books of fiction, information, poetry and pictures for all age levels (birth through age 14) that reflect and encourage children's interests in exemplary ways.

My mother was a member of the American Librarian Association, and I know this honor would have been especially meaningful to her. Thank you, ALA, and congrats to all the other book creators on the list.
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Check them all out here: https://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/notalists/ncb​