Searching for Silverheels Giveaway
In celebration of the release of the novel and the companion Book Club Kit, Curious City DPW, author Jeannie Mobley and Margaret K. McElderry Books gave away 20 copies of the novel Searching for Silverheels to these ever so fine Book Club leaders and librarians: Aurora Academy Charter School (Aurora, CO) Pasadena Public Library( Pasadena,CA) San Pedro Library (San Antonio, TX) SUNY New Paltz (New Paltz, NY) Attwood School (Lansing, Michigan) Rockford Road Library (Crystal, MN) Deerfield Public Library (Deerfield, IL) Hancock County Library System Bay (St. Louis, MI) Bernice Vossbeck...
Read More20,000 Librarians Walk Into Vegas…
20,000 Librarians walk into a Vegas casino… It sounds like the set up to a bad joke. Even my Ethiopian American cab driver got the joke. Dropping me off at the Convention Center for the week-long ALA Annual Convention, he said, “Here it is party, party all day and all night. But you women are quiet and thinking. How can you be here? It is almost funny.” 20,000 librarians, publishers, and other book professionals walk into a Las Vegas casino bombarded with cigarette smoke, slot machine clangs, loud music, and scantily-clad women. With the dawning realization that this casino has...
Read MoreSay Happy Birthday to Arun Gandhi!
Today, Arun Gandhi, the fifth grandson of Mahatma Gandhi turns 80-years-old! After a lifetime of educating the world about total nonviolence and forgiveness, he has brought his crucial lessons to children with the publication of the stunning picture book Grandfather Gandhi. The book is co-written with Bethany Hegedus and beautifully illustrated by Evan Turk. I am saying “Happy Birthday” to this astonishing human being by purchasing a copy of Grandfather Gandhi and donating it to my local school library. Why? Because we should all care about legacy. Ideas thrive when children...
Read MoreGot Uke
Got Uke? No? No worries, your library does. Portland, Maine library card holders can now check out ukuleles and equally hip young adult books from the Teen Room of the Portland Public Library. Based on a madcap idea by Portland Public Library teen staff member, Michael Whittaker, local businesses Curious City and Moose County Music and Surf teamed up to create a Ukulele Lending Library. Four ukuleles were donated by Moose County and named by Curious City after teen books in the Portland Public Library collection. LEARN more about Curious City’s new program UkeLit! “This is...
Read MoreClone My Brain (Part 1): Q&A from SCBWI Austin
Pleased as pie to have spent such delicious time with the creators at the SCBWI Austin Conference. This welcoming and boundlessly productive conference was planned, encouraged, and steered by the grand Debbie Gonzales, Carmen Oliver, Mark G. Mitchell, and a bounty of clever volunteers. This Q&A is a result of my presentation and individual consults with creators. Why a Q&A a week later and 2,000+ miles from the original source? There is only so much time in a conference weekend, so I requested written questions and promised this follow-up post. Brain Cloning Q: Can...
Read MoreSirenz Song
In Greek myth, the Sirens were said to be impossible to resist. I found the Sirenz creators to be equally tempting. How is this for a first client meeting? Pop to the front of the line of Alexander McQueen’s Savage Beauty show at the Met with a snap of author Natalie Zaman’s manicured hand and then off to Alice’s Tea Cup to nibble scones with Zaman and classy co-author Charlotte Bennardo. We all had “The Nibble” (and were stuffed for a week). Charlotte and Natalie write in the alternate voices of Shar and Meg, two modern teen girls whose...
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