When I stopped working in the corperate world as a producer at Viacom for shows on VH1 and MTV, one of the many things I missed was the office holiday party. So when I emerged from the haze of stay-at-home motherhood to forge my next path, one of the first things I did with my AMAZING writing group was suggest we have our own holiday party. It has become a beloved tradition where we pick Secret Santa gifts for each other...and of course they are picture books! Buying picture books for picture book authors is no easy feat. How do you pay tribute to the author friend, while also, hopefully, surprising them with a book they hadn't known of? My Secret Santa, Gela Kalaitzidis, absolutely nailed it.

First, since Gela is Swedish, she gave me When Dad Showed Me the Universe by Ulf Stark and Eva Eriksson. Gela has educated our group about Swedish books and their delightfully dark/subversive edge, which also appears in her own award-winning work. Here is how the book starts, to give you a taste:

One day Dad said he thought I was old enough for him to show me the universe.
"Where is it?" I asked.
​"Not too far," he said, taking off his dentist coat with its flecks of blood.

Okay--NOT what you're used to seeing in American picture books lol. But I am IN!

The second book was equally perfect, Dive, Dive into the Night Sea by Thea Lu. There are so many reasons why this was the perfect gift for me. Lyrical book about nature? Check. Main poetic text with informational sidebars? Check. Dreamy illustrations depicting our wonderous relationship with nature in an adventurous environment? Check. Unusual book format? Check. I love everything about this book! She also included a printout of an interview with the book's creator. Wow, do I feel seen with this one. Thank you, Gela!

Here we all are, Chelsea Lin Wallace, Erica Rich, Julia Wasson, Sasha Mayer, and our East Coast member, Carter Higgins, on Zoom! I love these women and would have zero books published without their support.

Happy holidays!

I'm thrilled to be part of two nonfiction presentations at NCTE!
Thursday 11:30-12:15 Panel: Falling for Nonfiction: How Nature Can Nurture Heart in Young Writers
​Room 160C

Friday 9:30am-10:50  Room 258B
​Roundtable discussions: WOWED by Nonfiction! Exploring Nonfiction Writing With Orbis Pictus Award-Winning Authors, including Traci Sorell, Nana Ekua Haffner, Margaret Peot, and Patricia Newman.

I had a wonderful time visiting three schools (nine presentations and three lunches with small groups of students!) The librarians are amazing, the PTAs are so supportive, and the kids filled me up with energy with all their curiosity, enthusiasm, and book suggestions. I'm so grateful I get to do this and am very glad to have How Now Booking help with all the scheduling!

Lucky me, I will be speaking with a panel and participating in a roundtable event at the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) in Boston next month!

I met with award-winning authors, Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond, Margaret Peot, Patricia Newman and Traci Sorell as well as educator Dr. Sophie Ladd to discuss our roundtable, entitled "WOWED by Nonfiction! Exploring Nonfiction Writing with Orbis Pictus Award-Winning Authors". If you are going to NCTE, come to our presentation on Friday, Nov 22, 9:30-10:45 Room 258 B in the Boston Convention Center

Later in the week, I met with my panel and we all shared our slides. This is going to be a great presentation--I learned so much from my fellow authors! This panel is called "Falling for Nonfiction: How Nature Can Nurture Heart in Young Writers" and I will be joined by Adriana Hernández Bergstrom, Randi Sonenshine, Michelle Schaub and Cedar Pruitt. Many of these women are experienced teachers, so we will provide actionable suggestions for your students.
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This panel will be on Thursday, Nov 21 11:30-12:45 room 160 C Boston Convention Center

I had such fun with the Culver City Friends of the Library! It was a great community event swarming with families purchasing low-cost gently used children's books, and I signed copies of all my books. Of course I also brought my big chunk of lava to share. I met local politicians, teachers, librarians, parents, grandparents, and of course...kids! What could be better?

In CAVES we feature the Waitomo Caves "Glowworm Grotto" in New Zealand. Check out this fantastic and fascinating video for kids and adults who want a deeper dive into the science of these amazing creatures.

I had the BEST time visiting schools in North Dallas. The librarians were so organized and I felt so warmly welcomed. The kids were super fun. It was my first time road-testing my new school visit program for CAVES and I'm happy to report that students from TK-5th grade loved it. I'm so inspired by these kids--I've already started developing a new project based on their feedback and ideas!

I'll be going back to Texas a number of times in the next few months to support CAVES being nominated for the Texas Bluebonnet Award. Fill out my request form if you'd like me to come to you school!

What a fun morning "hiking" through From Park to Playa: The Trails That Connect Us with this fun crew at Culver City Julian Dixon Public Library! I brought my cottontail bunny and hummingbird and we learned all about our local ecosystem.

I had so much fun visiting Black Chasm Cavern in Volcano, CA (about an hour outside of Sacramento.) One of the many cool features about this cave is that helictites are bursting out everywhere! What is a helictite? How can you visit Black Chasm Cavern? Watch and find out!

I was so thrilled to learn that the Texas Library Association nominated CAVES for their Bluebonnet Master List! They have created an AMAZING resource page for teachers to share all kinds of fabulous cave-related lessons with their classes. And they asked me to film an author interview.

Rather than do the standard interview at my desk with books behind me, I thought it would be fun to go over to Grifith Park and film the interview in front of the cave that was used as "the Batcave" in the original Batman TV series. It is a fun nature excursion, very flat and accessible--if you are in LA, consider going to visit it! It is called "Bronson Cave".
Enjoy!