Make room for another award sticker…

Cynthia Lord (

) just found out that RULES won the Maine State Book Award. Those Maine kids are smart, smart, smart.  RULES is one of my favorites and is a great book to use in the classroom.  Congratulations, Cindy!

Thank you, Flying Pig Books!

I am officially spoiled. 

Saturday’s presentation & signing at Flying Pig Books in Shelburne, Vermont was absolutely fantastic –  thanks to book-loving store owners Elizabeth & Josie and a whole loft full of enthusiastic kids, parents & grandparents.  Thanks to my husband and kids, too, who came along to help me carry props, set up extra chairs, and serve hardtack!

Flying Pig holds its author events in a big, beautiful room they call The Loft.  It’s a lovely, lovely place for book-talk, with a cathedral ceiling and tons of natural light. 

The kids liked hearing about the “experimental archaeology” parts of my research on 18th century life.  Early blog readers will remember the saga of the powder horns on my roof

I spotted a few familiar faces in the audience.

Author Tanya Lee Stone brought her kids and another kid she borrowed from a neighbor, I think. 

My daughter and I have already planned a return visit to the Flying Pig Loft for June 7th, when Tanya will be there to give a presentation on her new book Elizabeth Leads the Way: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Right to Vote, which comes out later this month.  I’m impatient for this one!

I’m also looking forward to Tanya’s nonfiction workshop at the New England SCBWI Conference later this week.  She’s giving a two-part session with Charlesbridge editor Yolanda LeRoy.  Talk about a terrific team!

Here’s the downstairs-bookstore part of Flying Pig.  This store has a HUGE focus on kids’ books.  It took me almost an hour to drag E out of this section.

But here’s the very best thing about Flying Pig Books…


            Left to right:  Josie Leavitt, me, Elizabeth Bluemle

Owners Josie Leavitt and Elizabeth Bluemle love books & authors, and like so many folks who run indies, they know their stuff.  They pointed both of my kids to perfect books right away.  E went home with Clementine’s Letter, the new Clementine book from Sara Pennypacker and illustrator Marla Frazee and a signed copy of My Father the  Dog, an outlandishly funny picture book written by the Flying Pig’s own Elizabeth Bluemle and illustrated by Randy Cecil.  J picked up James Paterson’s new Maximum Ride book, The Final Warning.

Thanks, so much, Elizabeth, Josie, and Shelburne readers for a fantastic morning in the loft!

Come Flying!

I’ll be giving my Revolution presentation and signing books at the Flying Pig Bookstore in Shelburne, VT tomorrow. If you live in the area, I’d love it if you’d stop by to say hello!

Thank you, Ogdensburg and NCCIRA!

Yesterday was one of those school visit days that writers dream about when their first book is released.  I spent the day at Madill and Kennedy Elementary Schools in Ogdensburg, NY and spoke to about 400 4th, 5th, and 6th graders — all of whom had read at least part of Spitfire

My morning drive started at 5am so I could get to Madill Elementary for an 8:15 presentation.  Madill students share their artwork in displays all over the cafeteria, where I was waiting for my presentation to begin.  I loved seeing all their creations, but this project has to be one of my favorites of all time…

A young lady named Madison introduced me to kids who had fantastic questions about researching historical novels, Spitfire, and the  American Revolution.  They especially liked sampling the hardtack and watching a classmate try to disguise herself in 18th century boys’ clothing like my character, Abigail, did.

Then it was off to Kennedy Elementary, where I was introduced by Nathaniel, who has read more books than anybody else at Kennedy this year.  Seriously, Nathaniel was one of the students who joined me for lunch in the library — I couldn’t find anything he hasn’t read.  The Kennedy kids were fantastic, too. Doesn’t this look like an enthusiastic bunch?

Special thanks to librarians Karen Wright and Mark Uebler, who took care of me and got me from place to place on time.  Mark even greeted me with a special welcome on the library door.

After school, it was off to SUNY Potsdam, where I was the speaker for the North Country Council of the International Reading Association’s spring dinner.  I talked about historical fiction with some of the most enthusiastic, committed teacher-readers I’ve ever met.  And… they had this gooey, amazing chocolate cake for dessert.  Fantastic company, book talk, and chocolate cake.  Really, what more could an author want?

Thanks so much, reading association folks, especially Cindy Wells, for organizing my visit.  Congratulations to  Cindy, too – she’s the incoming president of the NYS Reading Association. Wow! 

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Ogdensburg kids and teachers, for a fantastic day! 

Yay, Loree!

The kids at my school are still talking about plastic tub toys, floating sneakers, the garbage patch, and reducing their use of plastics, thanks to a phenomenal author visit with Loree Griffin Burns this week. 

Loree held the kids spellbound with her fascinating, high energy presentation on Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion.  They’re hungry for more high-interest nonfiction now and are waiting (impatiently) for Loree’s next book on honeybees.  Thanks,

, for a great, great day with our students!

And a related note that writers, especially, will appreciate…  Loree and I went out to dinner Sunday night to talk writing for a couple hours.  We ended up at a Japanese steakhouse where they have hibachi tables.  Our waitress came over at the end of the meal and remarked that they’d never, in the history of the restaurant, seen two people just keep gabbing away like we did while the guy at the grill was tossing knives and spatulas in the air.  In our defense, we did pause to say “Oooh…Ahh….” when he made the flaming volcano out of the onion…