Last month, I drove 500 miles, met 1000 kids, parted company with 150 gummy worms, listened to dozens of creative stories, led "The Lion Hunt" 7 times, and survived 2 fire drills. Whew! A CESA 10 grant made it possible for children's author/educator, Katie McKy,  and me to visit 13 northern Wisconsin elementary schools, presenting large group programs and leading writing workshops with small groups of 4th and 5th grade students. I had a fantastic time!

Here are pics from some of the schools I visited:


Interacting with young readers is one of my favorite things to do!


I always put the audience to work, asking lots of questions.


During my large group program, the students help me tell a story using all of our senses.


Volunteers come up front to help me show the stages that go into publishing a book.


During my writing workshop, we warm up our senses with a group juggle!

Students use "story stones" to write stories. What's a story stone? Come to a workshop and find out!








Girls rule! (And boys are cool too!) :)

If you'd like more info about my school programs, just contact me and I'll send you a brochure!

The snow is falling here in Wisconsin today, but I can already hear campers playing at the beach, smell the lush scent of pine trees and meadow grass, feel the sunscreen on my skin, and taste yummy marshmallows toasted over a crackling campfire. In fact, I can even see bugs! They're buzzing around my website, helping me announce the summer release of the final book in my Friends for Keeps series - My Extra Best Friend!



Available everywhere books are sold on June 14, 2012

Ida is going to camp! Stacey and Jenna are going too. But who is that extra girl?? Here are a few hints:

• She's in fourth grade, just like Ida.
• You met her in My Last Best Friend, although you didn't actually "see" her.
• Ida mentions her throughout the series.
• Her initials are E.E.

Hmm... who could she be? Find out by visiting the book's page on my website!

While you're there, take a look at my Appearance Schedule. Will I be buzzing around your neighborhood soon?

October has been a busy month! I had an awesome school visit at Woodside Elementary in Sussex, WI, followed by an equally awesome weekend at the SCBWI-Wisconsin Fall Retreat in Oconomowoc, WI. So many excellent presentations, including those by editors Cheryl Klein and Andrea Welch, authors Marsha Wilson Chall and Laura Ruby, illustrator LeUyen Pham, and agent Tracey Adams.

I've also been doing a lot of reading this month. Here are some of the books that are sitting on the arm of my couch right now:


Bluefish by Pat Schmatz (Pat is from Wisconsin, just like me! Bluefish is Pat's newest novel and it's already getting all kinds of amazing buzz. Go Pat!)


Alvin Ho by Lenore Look w/ pics by LeUyen Pham


Architecture of the Novel by Jane Vandenburgh


Take Joy by Jane Yolen (I won a signed copy of this book at the SCBWI-WI retreat. Woo-hoo!)

As for writing, my fifth and final book in the Friends for Keeps series is in copy editing now, which means most of my work with it is done. The book will come out next summer. The title is My Extra Best Friend. In this story, Ida and the gang go to summer camp! The last girl in the world Ida expects to see again is there. Hmm.... I wonder who it could be?? :)

With the FFK series wrapping up, I'm starting a brand new story. My desk is peppered with notes and bits of text on slips of paper (I scribble a lot when I write). My white board, where I will eventually outline the story's chapters, is completely clean:
 
 The new story is still very fragile and the characters are just beginning to make themselves known to me. It's a scary and exhilarating place to be. Here's a quote from Architecture of the Novel that speaks to me these days. Maybe it has something to say to you too:

"I've always allowed myself to be wrong for as long as it takes for me to learn the truth of what my book wants to say from the inside out. I let myself be wrong. I absolve myself ahead of time; I am forgiven all my lapses and failures. In this I've discovered something profoundly comforting: that I'm happiest when I'm at work on a book. I simply feel most actively alive when I can walk through a novel's many rooms. A book, as I'm writing it, gives me someplace I always need to be and it feels to me like a home." ( Architecture of the Novel, pg. 117)