BOOK SIGNING AT ALA in WASHINGTON, DC

In the Junior Library Guild booth at ALA in Washington, DC

I had a great day on Saturday at ALA in Washington, DC, signing KEEPER OF THE LIGHT in the Abrams booth and PLANTING A GARDEN in the Charlesbridge booth, and cruising the aisles of the exhibit hall to see all the publishers' new books! 

In  the Abrams booth at ALA

Many thanks to Nina Greuner, publisher of Cameron Kids, and everyone in the Abrams booth for hosting me in the booth and keeping the signing line going smoothly. 

In the Charlesbridge booth at ALA

And thanks to Donna Spurlock, Meg Quinn, Lindsay and Jaliza, and everyone in the Charlesbridge booth for coordinating my signing there. At both booths we ran out of books before the hour was over! It was great meeting librarians from so many places.

I also stopped by the Junior Library Guild booth and posed for a photo with PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6 which was a Spring selection.

Everyone in the convention center was required to be vaccinated and wear a mask (although I took mine off briefly for the photos.) Everyone, including me, seemed happy to be at a live, real person event!

MARK YOU CALENDAR FOR MY BOOK SIGNINGS AT ALA, June 25, Washington, DC

I am planning to be at the American Library Association (ALA) conference in Washington, DC, at the end of June. I will be signing Keeper of the Light: Juliet Fish Nichols Fights the San Francisco Fog in the Abrams booth on Saturday, June 25th, 11:00-11:30 am. I will sign  Planting a Garden in Room 6: From Seeds to Salad in the Charlesbridge Booth the same day, June 25th at 2pm. 

If you are going to be at ALA and have time to stop by, it would be great to see you!

 

Remembering Caroline Gill (July 1, 1937 – May 25, 2022)

Caroline Gill

I was deeply saddened to hear of the sudden passing of my good friend Caroline Gill. The last time I saw her was just a few weeks ago when she stopped by my house so I could give her copies of my newest books, Planting a Garden in Room 6 and Keeper of the Light: Juliet Fish Nichols Fights the San Francisco Fog. Earlier in the spring we had gone out for a prepublication celebratory lunch at a new little French restaurant in the neighborhood.

Among our many common bonds besides our love of books, Caroline and I shared the same first name—both spelling and pronouncing it the same (with a short “I” as in Carolyn.) She always signed emails as Caroline G. and I as Caroline A. Sadly, I will no longer have to make that distinction. We also shared our Midwestern roots—she grew up in a small town in Iowa, not too far from Grinnell, Iowa, where I went to college. And we both loved to travel, especially to Australia, where Caroline had lived when her then husband (an academic like mine) did a sabbatical year from his job in Michigan. Caroline moved to California shortly after their divorce and began working as a librarian in the LAUSD public schools.

I can’t remember where or when I first met Caroline—at the Women’s Reading group at Westwood Presbyterian Church where we discussed books and women’s issues, or at the Palms Middle School library, where she was the librarian for so many years, or at a meeting of FOCAL (Friends of Children and Libraries), the support group of the children’s department of the Los Angeles Public Library. Caroline was the heart and soul of the FOCAL organization, helping to coordinate the annual awards luncheon, library book sales, and other events. She recruited me to serve on the FOCAL awards committee and helped us through the process of choosing the winning book each year.

Caroline was so proud of her family, especially her sons and grandsons, and I loved hearing about their accomplishments through the years. Caroline was also a great cook, famous for her lemon bars that she frequently brought to the book group for refreshments. And she loved to sing and was a member of the church choir. Caroline was devoted to her job as a school librarian and often invited me to speak to her students about my books and the process of writing when she was at Palms Middle School. Caroline touched so many people in her long life. I will miss her very much.

Caroline Gill, FOCAL President, at the FOCAL awards luncheon 2019

 

 

AOB ZOOM VISIT AT TRUESDELL ELEMENTARY, Washington, D.C.

Last Wednesday, I spoke via Zoom to three eager classes of kindergarten students at Truesdell Elementary School in Washington, D.C. and enjoyed it very much  

The visit was sponsored by An Open Book Foundation (AOB), which brings authors to schools and then gives each child a copy of the author’s book. After my talk, every child received an autographed copy of my new book PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6: From Seeds to Salad. (I sent signed book plates ahead of time.) I found out that the school playground had just been redone and now the children have planted a school garden. So the book was very apropos!

I also shared the other Room 6 books, HATCHING CHICKS IN ROOM 6 and BUTTERFLIES IN ROOM 6, as well as WIGGLE AND WAGGLE. The kids helped me sing the Wiggle and Waggle song and followed along with the hand motions. At the end of the program they asked lots of questions and couldn’t wait  to receive their books.

Many thanks to AOB and to my publisher, Charlesbridge, for helping to arrange this visit. And special thanks to Angela Brooks and Dara La Porte at AOB, and to Eboni Henry, the school librarian!

Check the website of An Open Book Foundation to find out about all the wonderful things they do to connect authors and children and to promote books and reading..

VIRTUAL AUTHOR VISIT AT FRANKLIN MAGNET SCHOOL, Glendale, CA

On Tuesday, May 31, 2022, I had an excellent author visit at Franklin Magnet 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 five authors at the school. I met with four groups of first graders, each class for about thirty minutes, sharing my books and my life as an author and answering questions from the students.

Franklin is a language immersion school with students learning Spanish, French, German and Italian. I managed to begin each presentation by greeting the students with Buenos Dias, Bonjour, Guten Tag or Buono Giorno, but otherwise gave my presentation in English. In the Spanish immersion class I shared two of my books that have been translated into Spanish, A Zebra’s World (El Munde de las Cebras )and Your Skeletal System (El Sistema Oseo.)

In the German class I shared several of the many books available on Amazon as Kindle books in German, including Giant Shark (Megahai). 

In the French class I showed a translation of A Platypus’ World (Le Monde de l'ornithorynque) that had been made for me on a visit to Ecole Bilingue in Berkeley when my granddaughter was a student there. Unfortunately, none of my books have been translated into Italian.

I talked about 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 Franklin School is the owl, and that prompted a discussion of my books about birds, including A BALD EAGLE’S WORLD, HATCHING CHICKS IN ROOM 6 and A Day and Night in the Forest (which has an owl on the cover.) I also showed the children my collection of feathers and my ostrich egg. 

Altogether, it was a full and satisfying day!
 

INTERVIEW WITH DEBORAH KALB about KEEPER OF THE LIGHT and PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6

I was pleased to be interviewed by journalist Deborah Kalb about my new books. She has posted it on her blog Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb this week. Most of the interview is about KEEPER OF THE LIGHT although, at the end, I also comment briefly on my other new book, PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6.

Deborah Kalb interviews a lot of authors and I am happy to join the list. It is always good to have more publicity! Thank you Deborah!

From Deborah Kalb's website:

Deborah Kalb is a freelance writer and editor. She spent about two decades working as a journalist in Washington, D.C., for news organizations including Gannett News Service, Congressional Quarterly, U.S. News & World Report, and The Hill, mostly covering Congress and politics. Her book blog, Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb, which she started in 2012, features hundreds of interviews she has conducted with a wide variety of authors.

She is the author of the new children’s book The President and Me: John Adams and the Magic Bobblehead (Schiffer, 2018), the second in a series — after The President and Me: George Washington and the Magic Hat (Schiffer, 2016) — and the co-author, with her father, Marvin Kalb, of Haunting Legacy: Vietnam and the American Presidency from Ford to Obama (Brookings, 2011). She is the editor of the new two-volume reference book, Guide to U.S. Elections, 7th edition (CQ Press/SAGE, 2016), the co-author of The Presidents, First Ladies, and Vice Presidents (CQ Press, 2009), and the co-editor of State of the Union: Presidential Rhetoric from Woodrow Wilson to George W. Bush (CQ Press, 2007), and has contributed updates to a variety of CQ Press books on politics and government.

NETGALLEY REVIEWS of PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6

I recently discovered a whole list of great reviews for my book PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6 on NetGalley. NetGalley is a site that provides galleys of books to review in advance of publication. (Once the book is published the galleys are no longer available.) Every reviewer gave the book five stars! Thank you!

Here's an example of one of the reviews.

Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2022
What an excellent introduction to gardening for young children! The book follows a kindergarten class as they plant a vegetable garden. Each step is recorded in vivid, detailed photographs that bring the subject to life. Kids will not only be fascinated by everything they learn about plants and natural science as they follow along, but they also will be engaged by following students just like themselves through the process.

The language is clear and simple and basic concepts of plant growth are explained in accessible manner. There is a simple Q&A section about gardening at the end, along with a glossary of terms. This would be an excellent introduction to a classroom unit on plants and gardening or to inspire kids to try a gardening project at home.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review! 

Jacket back of Planting a Garden in Room 6