THE PLANT CYCLE: Foldable Project Teaches the Plant Growth Cycle, by Debbie Gonzales at LitLinks

Project by Debbie Gonzales at LitLinks

I discovered this easy foldable project by guest blogger Debbie Gonzales at LitLinks (Patricia Newman's blog linking literature and STEM.) It is perfect to use in conjunction with my new book PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6: From Seeds to Salad. It introduces children to the stages of plant growth from seed to maturity in a simple folding paper project. https://www.patriciamnewman.com/litlinks-easy-foldable-activity-to-illustrate-the-plant-cycle/

Debbie's project was created for the new book  NIGHT BECOMES DAY: CHANGES IN NATURE, written by Cynthia Argentine . 

GUEST POST AT LITLINKS: Plant a Garden, Grow a Reader!

Guest post at Lit Links, March 16, 2022

How does a school garden sprout young readers? Find out in 4 easy lessons! This week at LitLinks you can find my article about how you can use my new book Planting a Garden in Room 6: From Seeds to Salad in connection with reading and STEAM activities. I am happy to contribute to Author/Speaker Patricia Newman's wonderful blog featuring ways to connect STEM and STEAM books with literature in the classroom. My article features hands-on activities and reading strategies for using my book with students, helping them understand the concepts in the book. It posted on March 16, joining dozens of previous posts by other children's book science writers and illustrators.

Many thanks, Patricia, for the opportunity to contribute to your terrific site!

CHARLOTTE HUCK CHILDREN'S LITERATURE FESTIVAL, Redlands, CA

Book signing at the Charlotte Huck Children's Literature Festival

A week ago (March 11-12) I took part in the 25th anniversary Charlotte Huck Children's Literature Festival at the University of Redlands in Redlands, CA--my first in-person author event in two years! The speakers were all excellent and I am so glad that I was able to be part of it. Speakers included Ralph Fletcher, Salina Yoon, James Ransome, Rafael Lopez, Don Tate, In honor of Charlotte Huck, who started the festival, a memorial video was shown at the opening of the program. Dr. Charlotte S. Huck's (1922-1005) classic textbook, Children's Literature in the Elementary School, is now in its tenth edition.

Marjorie Arnett, the director of the festival, had paired me with Redlands kindergarten teacher Ellie Huynh, who was growing a garden with her students. Two weeks ago I did a zoom visit with her class and they gave me a video tour of the garden. She is a great teacher. Together we organized our presentation Planting the Seeds of Ideas: Hands-on Learning in a School Garden, which focused on my new book PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6 and on pictures of her class garden project. Our session went well and the participants really enjoyed seeing the photos of the garden she has planted with the children in her classroom. Many of the teachers I spoke to already had gardens at their schools or were in the process of planning them.

Book signing is always part of the festival and it was an opportunity for me to meet and chat with teachers and librarians who had bought my books.

As always, the festival was a stimulating two days, reminding us all of the excellence in children' literature. And brownies made from Charlotte's famous recipe were an extra treat at the opening luncheon!

With many thanks to the hardworking festival committee, who faced many obstacles in putting the festival together this year under Covid restrictions, and did such a terrific job.

PUBLICATION DAY! PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6: From Seeds to Salad

Happy Book Birthday! Hooray! Today is the publication day for my new book PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6: From Seeds to Salad (Charlesbridge, 2022), the third book in my Life Cycles in Room 6 series. With many thanks to my editor, Alyssa Pusey, for guiding another book through the editing and publication process and helping me to hone my text, and to Cathleen Schaad for her brilliant design of the book. And many, many thanks to Jennifer Best for welcoming me into her classroom and working with me on yet another Room 6 book, to the children and their families for their cooperation and enthusiasm for this book, and to Mrs. Meade, principal of Haynes Charter for Enriched Studies, for her support of the project.

Caroline and Jennifer Best

It has been a long two years since the children in Mrs. Best's kindergarten class planted their school garden. They are now in second grade. We are planning a party soon to celebrate the book. I look forward to presenting each of them of a signed copy.

CELEBRATING READ ACROSS AMERICA with a Zoom Author Visit at Calvert Elementary School, Los Angeles, CA

Last Wednesday morning (March 2nd) I did a very enjoyable Zoom author visit with kindergarten, first and second graders at Calvert Charter for Enriched Studies in Los Angeles, California, as part of their celebration of Read Across America. The students came into the school library for my presentation and sat on the raised seats in the story corner and watched me on a large screen. The school mascot is the koala, so I began by sharing my book A Koala's World and a photo of me holding a koala on one of my visits to Australia. I thank school librarian Sioux Renfro for inviting me and making all the technical arrangements for my presentation. It all worked perfectly! I also thank Access Books, which connected us, and which will supply the students with my books.

From the Read Across America website:

March 2 is National Read Across America Day, a day to celebrate our favorite activity. The day was established by the National Education Association (NEA) in 1998 to help get kids excited about reading. The day occurs each year on the birthday of beloved children’s book author Dr. Seuss, so a perfect way to celebrate is to don a Seussian hat and read one his famous tales, like One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. On National Read Across America Day, students, teachers, parents, and community members around the nation come together to read books and celebrate the joy of reading — join us! 

VIRTUAL AUTHOR VISIT AT VALLEY VIEW SCHOOL, Glendale, CA

Zoom author visit at Valley View School, Glendale, CA, with Ms. Jenks, her umbrella cockatoo, and her second grade students.

On February 28, 2022, I had an excellent author visit at Valley View Elementary School in Glendale, California, as part of the Authors and Illustrators in the Schools program sponsored and organized by the Glendale Assistance League. I especially thank Linelle Vincenti and Kathy Blyth for all their support and making sure that everything ran smoothly. I was one of four authors at Valley View on Monday. I met with four groups of first and second graders, each class for about forty minutes, sharing my books and my life as an author and answering questions from the students. I enjoyed it immensely. And I could tell that the teachers and kids enjoyed it too. One teacher wrote me at the end of the day: “Thank you so much for sharing! You were wonderful. The kids talked about you all day!”

The theme of my presentation was gardens–featuring my new book PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6: From Seeds to Salad, as well as my fiction book WIGGLE AND WAGGLE (reading the first story and singing the gardening song with my Wiggle and Waggle sock puppets), and sharing my miniature garden inspired by Mr. McGregor’s garden in PETER RABBIT by Beatrix Potter. 

The mascot of Valley View School is the Bald Eagle, and that prompted a discussion of my books about birds (including A BALD EAGLE’S WORLD and HATCHING CHICKS IN ROOM 6) and showing the children my collection of feathers and my ostrich egg. As a special treat, one of the teachers, who was Zooming from home, showed us her beautiful Umbrella Cockatoo, who erected her handsome crest and demonstrated how she can talk.
I also shared my illustration process, showing them how I do my cut-paper art for my book A ZEBRA’S WORLD.
Altogether, it was a full and satisfying day!
.

REVIEW IN KIRKUS of KEEPER OF THE LIGHT

KEEPER OF THE LIGHT: Juliet Fish Nichols Fights the San Francisco Fog (Cameron Kids/Abrams, April 12, 2022)

The first review of KEEPER OF THE LIGHT:  Juliet Fish Nichols Fights the San Francisco Fog is in! It is from Kirkus in the March 2nd issue. I am so pleased! It covers all the essential facts and I like that it notes that the lighthouse is not a tower. The book will be officially published on April 12, 2022. 

Here's the review:

On Sept. 1, 1902, Juliet Fish Nichols began keeping a journal.

Newly installed as the lighthouse keeper on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay, she enumerated her many duties, requiring physical strength, steadfastness, determination, and bravery. Every evening, she had to light the oil lamp and keep it shining all night long. On an April morning in 1906, the great San Francisco earthquake damaged the lighthouse, leaving Juliet heartbroken. A few months later, when the bay was saturated with a dangerous, impenetrable fog, the hand-cranked fog bell machine broke down, and Juliet had to manually strike the bell with a mallet every 15 seconds throughout the night to warn ships away from the rocks. Her journal entries, based on historical documents, appear in light, thin handwriting and illuminate her mostly solitary life, wholly dedicated to her important work and punctuated by times of terror and danger as well as occasional trips to the city across the bay for supplies. The story conveys Juliet’s deep appreciation for the beauty of the sea and the island’s landscape. Sumpter’s carefully composed double-page illustrations show the lighthouse, harbor, and city from a variety of perspectives and add detail and dimension to the narration. They show, for example, that the lighthouse was not a tower but a cottage with an attached bell house on a platform high on a cliff. Juliet presents White. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A fascinating introduction to a once-celebrated, now lesser-known light keeper. (additional facts, further reading) (Picture-book biography. 7-9)