READING WIGGLE AND WAGGLE: “BOOKS AND BAGELS” at Apricot Lane Farms, Moorpark, CA

Signing books at Apricot Lane Farms "Books and Bagels" event.

I spent last Saturday morning at Apricot Lane Farms in Moorpark, California, sharing my books at an event for children and parents called “Books and Bagels”. While seated on blankets on a grassy lawn and munching on breakfast, they listened to me talk about being an author and about my books. 

We were in the midst of a thriving organic farm, so it was fitting for me to share my Room 6 books, HATCHING CHICKS IN ROOM 6, BUTTERFLIES IN ROOM 6 and PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6 and also WIGGLE AND WAGGLE. At the end of the program I signed copies of WIGGLE AND WAGGLE and PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6, which were for sale in the Garden Shop.

Note: Directions for making stick puppets, singing the Wiggle and Waggle song, and other wormy activities are downloadable HERE.

I thank Liz Davis, Tours and Events Manager, for inviting me to share my books at Books and Bagels and who coordinated all the details of my visit. It was a pleasure to read my books and I was pleased that so many people bought them afterward. I also thank Kristen Nordstrom, who put on my Wiggle and Waggle sock puppets and acted out the story as I read aloud. She also was a great help handing out materials at the end of the program. (Everyone took home supplies to make their own Wiggle and Waggle stick puppets.) Kristen is a teacher at the school on the Apricot Lane Farms campus. She is also a children’s book author and shared her book Mimic Makers at a previous Books and Bagels program.

Kristen Nordstrom with my Wiggle and Waggle puppets.

The Books and Bagels program is a great way to celebrate books and reading and for families to discover the amazing plants and animals of Apricot Lane Farms. You can go to their website to find out more about it and how to visit.

Entrance to the Garden Area of Apricot Lane Farms

SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL Now Available at the LOS ANGELES PUBLIC LIBRARY

I was delighted to discover that my memoir, SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL: Growing Up in the1950s at North East Neighborhood House, Minneapolis, Minnesota, is now available at the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL). It is on the shelf in the Social Science/Philosophy Department of the Central Branch (call number 360.61A752.) If you don’t want to go downtown to check out the book, you can put it on hold and have it delivered to your local branch.

Although I grew up in Minnesota, I have lived most of my adult life in California and the LAPL is my home library.  I am pleased that they have approved the book for their collection. It took two plus years! Most of my 170 books for children are already on the shelves. Now, readers who know my children’s books will be able to find out what my life was like as a child.

Los Angeles Public Library

SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL is already on the shelves of the Hennepin County Libraries in Minnesota and many other libraries across the country. You can check to see if it is in a library near where you live.

Celebrate ASIAN AMERICAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER HERITAGE MONTH by reading my book, EASTER ISLAND: Giant Stone Statues Tell of a Rich and Tragic Past

The month of May is national Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month and the perfect time to read my book EASTER ISLAND: Giant Stone Statures Tell of a Rich and Tragic Past. You can look for it in your library or download it to your Kindle. I was inspired to write the book after a visit to Easter Island (also known as Rapa Nui) where I had the opportunity to walk among the giant statues and learn about the people who made them long ago.

Few places in the world are as mysterious or intriguing as Easter Island, a tiny, isolated outcrop of volcanic land that lies in the Polynesian region of the Pacific Ocean. When Europeans first stumbled on the island--landing on Easter Sunday 1722--they found a rocky, treeless coast lined with rows of giant stone statues, and a quiet farming and fishing community. Since then, this remote island has raised many questions. Who were the first inhabitants and where did they come from? How did they live? And why did they create such huge stone structures?

This book explains how the answers to many of these questions have been uncovered by archeologists or found in legends and family histories. In about 400 A.D., a small group of seafarers reached the uninhabited island and established a new settlement incorporating many of the traditions found elsewhere in Polynesia. They developed a rich and complex culture that lasted for more than a thousand years. Today large jets traveling between Santiago, Chile, and Tahiti stop at Easter Island several times a week. Thousands of people come to the island each year to see the ancient giant stone statues and to explore what has been called the world's largest open-air museum. Continued study of this remote island will help us gain a better understanding of its people and their history, as well as the fascinating story behind the giant "living faces" that line its shores.

CELEBRATE EARTH DAY by Watching Young Eagles in the Nest

Bald Eagles, Fraser Point, Santa Cruz Island, CA. 

Today is Earth Day when we celebrate the Earth and the natural world. What better way to get a close look at nature than to watch a family of bald eagles at their nest. I am watching (on my computer) a nest in California on Fraser Point on Santa Cruz Island. A video cam of the nest gives a 24/7 live feed of the activity at the nest--beginning from the time the parents laid their first egg in February and eventually (sometime early this summer) to the day when the young eaglets fledge.

Illustration by Caroline Arnold, A BALD EAGLE'S WORLD

I began watching eagle nest cams on my computer when I was doing research for my book A BALD EAGLE'S WORLD (PictureWindow Books, 2010.) By watching the birds' behavior I learned valuable information for my text and the close-up views were crucial for my art. Now, every year during the spring when eagles are nesting, I tune into the nest cams on my computer and check in to see how the eagles are doing. 

The Fraser Point video cam is just one of a number of eagle nests around the nation that you can watch on your computer. Search for "bald eagle nest cam" to find one near you. 

Watch Jackie and Shadow and their two chicks in their nest at Big Bear in California on YouTube.

Note: Prints of my illustrations for A Bald Eagle's World are available at my Etsy Site.

SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE 120TH ANNIVERSARY: Time to Read KEEPER OF THE LIGHT

Illustration by Rachell Sumpter for KEEPER OF THE LIGHT.

Today is the 120th anniversary of the deadly 1906 San Francisco earthquake. That morning, across the Bay, on Angel Island, light keeper Juliet Nichols woke up to violent shaking.

I awake with a jolt. Everything is moving!

My bed thrashes like a boat in a storm. Dishes smash. Outside, the lamp swings wildly on its hook. I hang on for dear life and wish I were not so alone.

When the shaking stops. I inspect the house--

Storehouse cracked. Stone basement badly cracked. House plaster cracked.

--Luckily nothing that can't be fixed.

Juliet's story, before and after the earthquake, is the subject of my book KEEPER OF THE LIGHT: Juliet Fish Nichols Fights the San Francisco Fog (Cameron Kids/Abrams, 2022). Beautiful watercolor llustrations are by Rachell Sumpter. Read the book and find out how Juliet saved the day when the fog bell failed during the foggy summer after the earthquake and she had to ring the bell by hand.

The San Francisco Earthquake

At 5:12 a.m., April 18, 1906 a violent earthquake struck the city of San Francisco, toppling buildings, cracking streets and sidewalks, bursting water mains. The rupture extended both northward and southward for a total of 296 miles (476 km). Shaking was felt from Oregon to Los Angeles. No system of measurement was in place at the time, but it is thought today that the earthquake would have measured between 7.9 and 8.2 on the Richter scale.  Hundreds of buildings collapsed during the quake.  But the bigger disaster came from the fires the followed.  Without a water supply, it was difficult to fight the rapidly spreading flames. By the time the fires were out, 500 city blocks were destroyed, at least 700 people were dead, and more than 225,000 homeless.

CENTRAL 100 COLOR-BY-NUMBER READING CHALLENGE : Los Angeles Public Library, Los Angeles, CA

A beautiful coloring page depicting the murals in the library rotunda has been created in celebration of the Los Angeles Central Library's 100th anniversary. You can pick one up at your branch library along with a set of colored pencils. Directions for participating are HERE.  

On the back of the coloring page you will find cool facts about the Rotunda, originally the heart of the library and where the card catalog and service desks were located. There will be three different coloring pages released in 2026. The color-by-numbers art is by Alexander Vidal.

HAPPY EASTER! Making Ukrainian Easter Eggs

Eggs have long been associated with Easter is a symbol of renewed life. I became fascinated with the beautiful designs on Ukrainian Easter eggs (called psanky) when I was growing up in Northeast Minneapolis. I started to make them myself when I was a teenager. I took a bus from our home in South Minneapolis to the Ukrainian Gift Shop on East Hennepin Avenue to buy the tools and special dyes needed to make the designs. Behind the counter a woman dressed in a traditional Ukrainian costume demonstrated the technique, making beautiful intricate designs and using many colors of dyes. To make the eggs the designs are drawn in wax with a stylus (kistka) and the colors are added successively. In the end the wax is removed, revealing the richness of the colors.  The eggs can be kept year after year because the inside moisture simply evaporates over time.  (The designs are made on raw eggs.  The eggs are not meant to be eaten but used for decoration.) Some of the eggs in the bowl above were made by my children when they were much younger, others by me. Getting them out at Eastertime is a well-loved family tradition.

HAPPY EASTER! 

(Note: In 2026, Easter falls on Sunday, April 5th. But in the Orthodox Church, Easter is a week later, on April 12th, because of a different way of calculating the date on the Orthodox calendar. Whichever you celebrate, best wishes for a happy holiday!)