AUTHOR VISITS at the PLUM CREEK LITERACY FESTIVAL, Seward, Nebraska

Book signing at Plum Creek Literacy Festival, Seward, Nebraska

Last week I spent three full days, along with eighteen other children’s book creators at The Plum Creek Literacy Festival in Nebraska, speaking to children and adults in schools in Lincoln, Nebraska, and on the campus of Concordia University in Seward, Nebraska. For me, this was the first time doing live visits in schools since Covid, and it was wonderful to see the smiling faces of the enthusiastic audiences. I also really enjoyed the opportunity to interact with the other authors, sharing meals and van rides and free time together.

Dylan Teut, Festival Director, and Caroline

I thank Dylan Teut, the organizer of the festival, for all the hard work of putting the program together, and all the 2022 committee members and and volunteers who helped make it all run smoothly. I am especially appreciative of Dawn Navis and Jeanne Gee for ably transporting us to and from all the events.

On Thursday, Betsy Thomas, my host in Lincoln, not only took me to all the schools, but treated me to a delicious lunch at the Green Gateau and a personal tour of the amazing capital building. 

On Friday, my host for the day was Tammy Stuhr, who helped make everything run smoothly and used her skills as a 4H trainer to entertain the children in between sessions. 

Authors, Festival Committee and Kiwanis and Rotary Members

On Friday evening, we were treated to a special barbecue at the Isaac Walton League cabin, sponsored by the Seward Kiwanis and Rotary clubs. The steaks were delicious!

Saturday was the Adult Conference on the campus of Concordia University. I thank all the volunteers who helped at the festival. 

The final event at the festival for me was the luncheon on Saturday, with keynote speaker Pam Munoz Ryan, who, as always, gave an inspiring talk about the importance of books and reading.

It has been twenty years since I last participated in the Plum Creek Literacy Festival. It was good to be back.

 

PROJECT: KEEPING A WEATHER LOG

KEEPER OF THE LIGHT by Caroline Arnold, illustrated by Rachell Sumpter

Juliet Nichols, the lighthouse keeper on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay from 1902 to 1914, is the subject of my book KEEPER OF THE LIGHT (Cameron Kids/Abrams 2022.)

Juliet recorded the weather in her log book twice a day—once in the morning and once in the evening.  She also noted activities relevant to running the lighthouse–such as repairs, the delivery of fuel, or a visit of the lighthouse inspector.  She used the information in her log book to write her monthly reports.

Juliet's log for February 1906

You can make your own log to make a record of the weather where you live.

You will need: a large notebook with lined paper, a pencil, outdoor thermometer, graph paper.

Using Juliet’s lighthouse log as a model, write your name, the month, year, and location of your observations in the notebook at the top of the page. Along the left margin, write the numbers, 1-31, one date per line.  Once each day (at about the same time) write down your observations of the sky (clear, partly sunny, overcast, foggy), air temperature (measure with a thermometer), and precipitation (rain, snow, sleet.)    

Sample graph

At the end of each month you can make a simple graph of the daily temperatures.

What was the average temperature for the month? (Hint: Add all the temperatures and divide by the number of days in the month.)

AUTHOR VISIT: Reading THE TERRIBLE HODAG to the ESNS Preschool in Minneapolis

Showing the picture of the Hodag on my Camp Bovey sweatshirt to the ESNS preschool.

My first trip to Camp Bovey, the ESNS camp in northern Wisconsin, was when I was four years old. Then it was called Camp Hodag and as we sat around the campfire at night, my father told stories of the Hodag—a creature with the head of an ox, feet of a bear, back of a dinosaur, and tail of an alligator. I remembered those stories and when I grew up and became a children’s book writer, I wrote some of them down.

Ole Swenson meets the Hodag.

Last Friday, I visited the preschool at ESNS in Minneapolis and read my book THE TERRIBLE HODAG to the three and four-year-olds. They were just as fascinated with the Hodag as I had been when I was four. One of the children had even gone to Camp Bovey with his family and was proudly wearing his Camp Bovey t-shirt with a picture of the Hodag on the front.

Camp Bovey.

My father, Lester Scheaffer, was the director of ESNS (East Side Neighborhood Services) for 18 years and founded Camp Bovey in 1949. I thank Margie, the preschool director at ESNS for inviting me to read to the children. Long ago, I too attended the ESNS nursery school, then housed at Northeast Neighborhood House.

THE TERRIBLE HODAG in Spanish, available on Amazon.

THE TERRIBLE HODAG has long been out of print in hardback (although you may be able to find it online as a used book, or in your library) but you can find a digital version of the book on Amazon in both English and Spanish.

PROJECT: EARTHQUAKE IN A BOX

Illustration for KEEPER OF THE LIGHT by Rachell Sumpter

Juliet Nichols, the lighthouse keeper on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay from 1902 to 1914, is the subject of my book KEEPER OF THE LIGHT (Cameron Kids/Abrams 2022.)

On April 18, 1906, Juliet was woken by a violent earthquake. She wrote in her log:. Calm. Hazy. Severe earthquake at 5:07 A.M. followed by several lighter shocks.

Earthquakes occur when two parts of the Earth’s crust push against one another. To demonstrate what occurs when this happens, you can make a tiny earthquake in a box. (It is best to do this project outside.)

You will need: a shallow cardboard box, scissors, damp sand.

First, cut the box in half. Then put the box back together by overlapping the cut edges. Fill the box with sand. Pat the sand to make it smooth. Now slowly push the two parts of the box together. 

What happens to the sand? Does it form little hills or valleys? Have you made any tiny earthquakes?

CELEBRATE BOOKS IN TRANSLATION with SCBWI and my book in Spanish, EL TERRIBLE HODAG

EL TERRIBLE HODAG, is one of the books featured on the SCBWI reading list for the month of September. Hurray! The theme is "Celebrate Books in Translation". 

In honor of #WorldKidLitMonth, an annual celebration of world literature for children and young adults, we are celebrating our PAL members who have translated books into English, or who have had their books translated into other languages. So get ready to read the world through kids' book in translation!

Click on the section labeled "Picture Books" and scroll down to find El Terrible Hodag (listed alphabetically.)

EL TERRIBLE HODAG (StarWalk Kids, 2018) was first published in English as THE TERRIBLE HODAG (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1989). It was translated to Spanish by Thomas Scheaffer. It is available as an ebook at Amazon.

Un leñador llamado Ole Swanson se hace amigo del terrible hodag. El hodag ayuda a Ole a echar al jefe del bosque.

With many thanks to all the translators who have made so many of my books available to children who speak other languages--Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, and German. A list of those books is available at my website.