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What are flower essences and why are they so cool?

I discovered flower essences long ago. It wasn’t an instant pull; I was actually quite skeptical about them and a little wary. Like most new things, we make that step and surprised we hadn’t found that new thing that will help us all along. One thing I do know, the more I’ve used flower essences, the more I have felt this deep bond with Nature.

Many of my students and folks coming to this site have questions about what essences are, so I thought I’d have a little Q and A.

Q: What the heck are flower essences?

A: Check out this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7OqBx2eV3k

Q: Are flower essences like regular medicines?

A: No. Since there is nothing inside of them that is physical material, you aren’t reacting to a substance. They are safe to take with other medicines.

Q: Are flower essences cure-alls? I can take HOLLY for anger, and have no anger?

A: I wish! There are some essences that are “stabilizing” and those are great for reaching for immediate relief, like BACH RESCUE REMEDY will calm you right away in a scary situation. SALVIA is very emotionally calming. ASPEN will help alleviate great fear. These essences help in the moment. Some, like the PANSIES will help ease grief and sadness over time. Other essences will illuminate with use WHY you are angry or upset underneath and deal with an underlying pattern you keep reliving. As you take the essence, great insight will come up that will help you change that pattern or thinking and give you a new perspective.

Q: How do you take them?

A: I like putting a few drops in my water or under the tongue once a day if you are sensitive; 2-4 times a day otherwise.

Q: Can you take the wrong essence?

A: Many teachers say that if you take the wrong essence, you won’t resonate and you won’t respond. I found with sensitive folks we often respond to everything being so empathic. If you take an essence and you feel off or wonky it’s probably the wrong one and might be too strong.

Q: Can animals use essences?

A: Absolutely! My girls will lick them from my hand, or I can put a few drops on their bodies. I usually put the drops on their food or water.

• Want to learn more? Friday starts my popular Flower Essences Class. To enroll go here. A few spots left.

• The Fairy Beginner Healing class, which is a great intro to the Fairy energy and healing with Nature. It also has a session that starts Friday. Go here.

• And go shop at my store, Flower Essences for the Sensitive on this site here. 

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More photos from the author variety show (contributed by and used with permission of the school):

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As I wrote in a blurb for Sourcebooks, “Readers will fall in love with eleven-year-old Rachel, nick-named Ratchet by her car mechanic-environmentalist Dad, as she writes from her Life in her Home School Language Arts Journal, wanting to repair what’s broken, needing to replace the missing parts, so her very own engine can run true and on course.  Ratchet’s journal proves a user-friendly Instruction Manual for readers – and especially writers – eager to discover the wonder of their own life stories.”

Be sure to enter our TeachingAuthors Book Giveaway for AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF This Journal Belongs to Ratchet.  Include a shout-out for your Favorite Car – real, imagined, long-ago, present, fictional, cinematic, even longed-for.  The deadline to enter is June 3. See contest details following the interview below.





We first worked together privately in the early 90’s when you were just beginning “your race to the finish line,” on two picture books that still remain in my heart and on my brain’s Hard Drive.  Do you recall what you were hoping to learn – and – what you indeed took away – about writing, the Children’s Book World, publishing - so you could keep on writing?





Enriching experiences (researching topics, attending meetings, conferences, workshops, and retreats)
The satisfaction of always having something to strive for
Small successes along the way (having articles and short stories published in magazines and books)







                                                               * * * * * * * * * * * * *

And now, for the giveaway details:

Our blogiversary giveaway was such a success that we're again using Rafflecopter to run this giveaway. If you've never entered a Rafflecopter giveaway, you may want to read their info on how to enter a Rafflecopter giveaway and/or the difference between signing in with Facebook vs. with an email address.

To enter for a chance to win an autographed copy of This Journal Belongs to Ratchet (Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky) log into Rafflecopter below (via either Facebook or an email address). You'll see that we've provided three different options for entering the giveaway--you can pick one or up to all three. The more options you choose, the greater your chances of winning. While we haven't made it a requirement, we hope that everyone will pick the first option--subscribing to the TeachingAuthors blog. If you're already a TeachingAuthors subscriber, you still need to click on that button and tell us how you follow our blog, which will give you THREE entries in the giveaway! (If you received this post via email, you can click on the Rafflecopter link at the end of this message to enter.)

As it says in the "Terms and Conditions," this giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. You must be 18 or older to enter. And please note: email addresses will only be used to contact winners. The giveaway will run from now through June 3, 2013. Winners will be notified June 4, 2013.

If you have any questions about the giveaway, feel free to email us at teachingauthors [at] gmail [dot] com.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

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       Tomorrow 21 May at Sotheby's in London, at 19:30, there will be An auction of fifty contemporary first edition books, annotated by their authors, with all proceeds benefiting English PEN .
       Check out all the lots -- some great stuff here -- and if you're in London you can view the items before the sale, today and tomorrow.
       See also the Sotheby's official page.

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Aren't they precious? Cooling off in the water is a favorite thing to do - just like kids in summer.

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We are excited about a new project we have in the works with Kidlit Frenzy, Great Kid Books, and 100 Scope Notes. Read Mary Ann Scheuer's introduction to our new series, and be sure to check back on Wednesday, May 22nd to read the reviews. Introduction to Common Core IRL: In Read Libraries by Mary Ann Scheuer at Great Kid Books

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As of November 20, 2012 (that is, Midnight Eastern Time tonight) I am closed to queries. I will reopen to queries January 7, 2013.

If I already have your work, you should hear from me by January 7. (That's the point of taking the break, I have to catch up!)

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Title: The Star

Author: Clemy Warner

Release Date: June 3rd, 2013

Genre: Young Adult, Dark Fantasy

Reveal Host: Lady Amber’s Tours

Blurb:
Abbii had been afraid of the dark for four long years. She hated the eerie silence that filled the night.

She would often try to forget by closing her eyes at night, but she would always be met by dreams of Shadows that would attack her, dragging her into the Darkness. Most nights, she would simply lie there with her bedding wrapped tightly around her, staring at the light coming in through her window, hoping that she would drift off into a dreamless sleep.

Ever since that day four years ago, the dark had frightened her; she had thought it would be a curse throughout the whole of her life, but something changed when she met him.

The dark seemed to lose its power and the moon’s light brightened.

Her dreams didn’t stop; nightmares still stole her sleep, but there was always a figure of Light that would save her and allow her to wake.

He said the same thing every night in her dreams. Keep fighting, Abbii.

She thought that he was part of her imagination, someone that she had created to save her, until she met him and was drawn into his bright hazel eyes.

His name was Nate.

Author Bio:

I was born in England in the West Midlands in 1991 where I am still currently living, growing up alongside one younger and three older brothers.

Books and writing was an interest that I began to develop from the first years of secondary school, and on my thirteenth birthday, I began to plan and design the idea to write a fantasy novel. I finished secondary school with high GCSE’s and then went on into further education to study English and all aspects of art and design. After six years of writing, planning and overall editing of the book, it was successfully completed, containing over 82,000 words, and self published in the first week of 2011.

With high expectations in myself, I immediately began to write a second novel in the series, while keeping my art and design a part of the process. The achievement of completing the first novel ‘Purest Light,’ allowed the ideas of the second to flow much easier and it was completed by early 2012. As I was writing the third and final book, New Beginnings, at the same time, the series was finished by its publication in 2013.

Writing is now a part of my everyday and I have started on my newest project, The Star, which is also planned to be the first of three. Only time will tell.

Excerpt:
Nate signalled for her to move forward, watching as she did after a brief hesitation. She stopped several strides in front of him and waited for him to speak. “How many windows are there?”

Not really understanding the relevance of counting windows, Abbii turned to count them.

“No!”

Startled by Nate’s outburst, she glared at him, more out of shock than malice.

“Without turning.” He watched as confusion took over her face. “Close your eyes and focus on the energy of the sunlight beaming through the glass.”

Abbii shuffled in her place, not really understanding, but when Nate smiled, she did as she was asked. She closed her eyes, immediately feeling self conscious that Nate’s gaze was focused onto her.

“Clear your mind of everything else. Think of somewhere you feel calm.”

Keeping her eyes closed, Abbii took in Nate’s statement. She felt her heartbeat increase and her breath seemed shallow, but as she relaxed her shoulders, the rest of her body seemed to follow. She listened to the faint breeze that circled through the large space, hearing leaves pitter-pattering against the wooden floor.

“Anywhere you feel calm.”

Although her mind was full of questions and worries and a fear that she would lose herself, Abbii found that an image began to form in her head. Bursts of blue and silver light soothed her, and once the image had focused, she realised why. She could see the lake at The Everglades, with the moon reflected clearly upon its surface. The stars were shining brightly, and the air was still. The feeling of calm which enveloped her felt uplifting.

“Now keep that feeling inside of you and focus onto the light of the sun.”

Not at all distracted by Nate’s words, Abbii kept hold of the calmness inside of her and expanded her mind in some way, feeling the energy of the sunlight. She could feel its warmth and the way it passed through the glass of the bay windows. The years of dirt and dust made no difference; the power of the sunlight beamed through it without faltering.

“How many are there, Abbii?”

Realising that she could sense several different areas of the sunlight’s energy, Abbii realised that each one represented one of the windows.

There are eight.

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Peace, by artist Wendy Anderson Halperin is a visual and poetic meditation on the subject of peace. The book is dedicated to our senses, and that dedication sets the tone for the book – peace is real, and it can be sensed with our whole bodies and expressed with our words, actions, and thoughts. There is a very short text which can be read aloud, along with quotes from famous peacemakers spread throughout, and panels of illustrations depicting scenes of peace.

Halperin chooses quotes from people like Mother Teresa, Albert Einstein, Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama, and Anne Frank. I like that many of the quotes focused on the small ways we can work toward peace: “When people talk, listen completely” (Ernest Hemingway); and “Friendship is the only cure for hatred, the only guarantee of peace” (Buddha). The many illustrations, too, while wide in scope (they depict children and nature around the world), also depict small scenes of peace. Some of the images contrast to illustrate the concept. For example, one scene shows a grandmother washing dishes while her granddaughter lounges on the couch. A few pages later, we see the same grandmother washing the dishes with her granddaughter at her side helping her. Another scene depicts an elderly man boarding a bus as everyone continues to read their paper. Later on in the book, we see that a child has risen from his seat and offered it to the man. We also see children reading in tree houses, planting vegetables, sharing meals with their families, and quietly observing a heron.

The book is one to read and look at over and over again. It may spark discussions about kindness, friendship, stewardship of the earth, and about standing against all those things that destroy peace – like anger, apathy, ignorance, and jealousy. I can see this making a soothing bedtime book for all ages, and while it would be difficult to read the book aloud to a classroom (too many small details), it would make a good book for small groups to read and discuss in the classroom.

Posted by: Parry

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Again I was drawing passerby from my usual picture window at the cafe yesterday.

Tagged: About Me, Art, character design, Childhood, gesture drawing, Illustration, quick sketch, sketchbook, sketchbook drawing

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2013 GradeReading.NET Summer Reading Lists

Keep your students reading all summer! The lists for 2nd, 3rd and 4th, include 10 recommended fiction titles and 10 recommended nonfiction titles. Printed double-sided, these one-page flyers are perfect to hand out to students, teachers, or parents. Great for PTA meetings, have on hand in the library, or to send home with students for the summer. FREE Pdf or infographic jpeg. See the Summer Lists Now!

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I just got home from ten days in Europe and I am ready to write. Why?
Because getting out of my writing cave makes me bump up against people, against history, against emotional struggles.

One place we visited is a memorial for the Belzec (Bee AWA zhek) Death Camp in eastern Poland, the first and worst of the Nazi camps which tried to exterminate Jews, gypsies and handicapped people. Over 600,000 people died here in 1941-1943. Then, the Germans flattened the camp and planted trees, in an attempt to hide what they had done.

This is history and deep emotions rolled into one poignant visit. For example, there was only one survivor of the camp–only one!–and his stories are heartbreaking. One quote was from a young boy who had entered the gas chambers and was heard to cry out, “It’s dark, it’s dark. Mama, haven’t I been good?” His last words.

For a writer to experience a sobering memorial something like this is to plumb the emotional depths to which a character might be forced to go.

One place we stayed was a horse farm in eastern Poland and one morning I walked out with my camera to see what was around. Under the eaves of the horse barns were nest after nest of barn swallows. I like trying to find the small, hidden things to photograph, because as a writer, it reminds me to pay attention to the landscape, to notice the “telling details” that could make a story come alive.


I snapped this photo while we were stopped for a break along a country road. Writers need to remember that there are common emotions and thoughts across all languages and cultures, they are common to humanity. Fear of dogs is one of those things.



And you can find beauty across the world, too, beauty in the common things of life such as a window.

The trip was amazing: as a writer, the trip reminded me that stories are universal, that evoking emotions–both happy and sad–is universal, and that beauty is found in the common things of life.

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In Out of the Easy, Ruta Sepetys had me at hello. It begins:

My mother's a prostitute. Not the filthy, streetwalking kind. She's actually quite pretty, fairly well spoken, and has lovely clothes. But she sleeps with men for money or gifts, and according to the dictionary, that makes her a prostitute.

Seventeen-year-old Josie Moraine doesn't want to follow in her mother's footsteps. She's known that for years, and even though she still works at the same brothel as her mother—cleaning rooms, mind you—and even though she's on good terms with Willie Woodley, the woman who owns it, she's independent enough that she's kept her own apartment since she was eleven years old.

She works part-time at the bookstore below it, and she dreams of going to college. But when Josie dreams, she dreams big: she wants out of New Orleans, to start over somewhere up North, somewhere where she can reinvent herself—where no one knows who she is or what her mother does.

LOVE: THE DIALOGUE. Out of the Easy is set in 1950, and Sepetys' characters sling slang without sounding phony or overblown, and the dialogue zings back-and-forth like in an old movie. The characters speak in distinctive voices, and unlike in Strands of Bronze and Gold, those differences in vocabulary, rhythm, and diction are affected by economic class, vocation, and education, rather than being purely dictated by the color of one's skin.

LOVE: JOSIE. Her narration has a touch of the noir hero: deadpan, world-weary, and with an understanding of ironic humor. Unlike a noir hero, though, she is open about being emotionally affected by... things that are emotionally affecting. She's smart, she's canny, and rather than blushing and wanting to melt into the ground in embarrassing situations, she treats them as opportunities—I cheered out loud when she turned one around by becoming an impromptu blackmailer, and I swooned during another when she threw herself into a cute boy's lap to save herself (and him, to a degree) from some catty mean girls. 

LOVE: HER MOTHER. Well, no, actually, I loathed her mother. But I loved that she wasn't the Pretty-Woman-hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold, I loved that she wasn't secretly sympathetic, or selfless or particularly smart. She was completely self-absorbed, and while her behavior makes her come off as rotten and somewhat stupid, it's important to remember who's telling the story: Josie isn't exactly an objective party. The other women who work for Willie are a mixed bag of funny/serious/witty/quiet/ruthless/rude/mothering/mean/sensitive and everything in between, and it's easy to imagine that if another person had told the story, Louise would have come off as more human. Maybe. Then again, SOME PEOPLE ARE JUST TERRIBLE.

LOVE: THE BOOKS. Josie works in a bookstore, and she and her best friend Patrick have an ongoing game where they predict what sort of book customers will want. There are references to Dickens and Keats, Capote and even L'Engle. And, tangentially, Poe: Josie ends up with a dead man's watch—THAT'S RIGHT, ON TOP OF EVERYTHING ELSE, SHE INVESTIGATES A MURDER—under her floorboards, and she swears she can hear it ticking, ticking, ticking. Which, of course, evokes The Tell-Tale Heart.

LOVE: EVERYTHING ELSE. Sepetys is true to the era and her characters in how Patrick's story plays out; the romance is sweet and heartfelt; the details about 1950s life and culture work themselves in fluidly; Josie wants what she wants so badly that I was never quite sure about how far she'd go to get it; and while the ending certainly has some fairy-tale elements, there's enough bitter in the sweet to keep cynics (like me) from getting all up on their high horses.

Oh, I loved this book. As it's got the same combination of fantastically-rendered historical atmosphere—the dialogue is TO DIE FOR—and mystery elements, I highly, HIGHLY recommend it to fans of Judy Blundell's What I Saw and How I Lied.

____________________________

Author page.

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Amazon.

Publisher.

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Book source: Review copy from the publisher.

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Meet Paul Belford, a creative agency out of London who focuses on advertising and branding. Their approach to design is admirably simple, resulting in pieces that are clean and easy to appreciate. Check out their work here.

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Also worth viewing…
Nathan Godding
Studio Patten
Heartwork 2011

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Last night in New York City, the ASIFA-East Animation Festival Awards were presented for the forty-fourth year in a row. The Best in Show prize was awarded to the NYU student short Based on a True Story directed by Jacob Kafka. In the Independent Film category, first place went to Celia Bullwinkel’s Sidewalk. Other prizes in the indie category were handed out to films by Mark Kausler, Arthur Metcalf, Bill Plympton, Richard O’Connor and David Chai.

New York veteran Candy Kugel took home first place in Commissioned Films for her TEDEd short Sex Determination, while first place in Student Films went to Michelle Ikemoto’s Tule Lake, produced at San Jose State University.

The complete list of winners is below:

BEST IN SHOW
Based on a True Story
Directed by Jacob Kafka

INDEPENDENT FILMS: FIRST PLACE
Sidewalk
Directed by Celia Bullwinkel

INDEPENDENT FILMS: SECOND PLACE
There Must Be Some Other Cat
Directed by Mark Kausler

INDEPENDENT FILMS: THIRD PLACE (TIED)
It Took A While To Figure Shit Out
Directed by Arthur Metcalf

INDEPENDENT FILMS: THIRD PLACE (TIED)
Drunker Than A Skunk
Directed by Bill Plympton

EXCELLENCE IN ANIMATION
It Took A While To Figure Shit Out
Directed by Arthur Metcalf

EXCELLENCE IN DESIGN
Christmas Day
Directed by Richard O’Connor, designed by Kelsey Stark

EXCELLENCE IN WRITING
A Knock On My Door
Directed by David Chai

EXPERIMENTAL FILMS
The Productive AniJam
Produced by Katie Cropper & Cynthea Diaz

COMMISSIONED FILMS: FIRST PLACE
TEDed: Sex Determination
Directed by Candy Kugel

COMMISSIONED FILMS: SECOND PLACE
Quiet Loud (Sesame Street)
Directed by Bob Boyle

COMMISSIONED FILMS: THIRD PLACE
Sniffles
Directed by David Cowles & Jeremy Galante

STUDENT FILMS: FIRST PLACE
Tule Lake
Directed by Michelle Ikemoto

STUDENT FILMS: SECOND PLACE
Chasing Unicorns
Directed by Deena Beck

STUDENT FILMS: THIRD PLACE (TIED)
The Crawler
Directed by Seth Brady

STUDENT FILMS: THIRD PLACE (TIED)
Good Night Guard
Directed by Janice S. Rim

STUDENT FILMS: HONORABLE MENTION (TIED)
Mirror
Directed by Q-Hyun Kim

STUDENT FILMS: HONORABLE MENTION (TIED)
Register Rap!
Directed by Josh Weisbrod

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In addition to editing and writing, I do book design, too, both covers and interiors. I've worked for a small publishing company for a couple of years, and the occasional independent author comes along. Here are the latest of the latter.

Hookernomics is a title suggested by an FTQ reader (whose name I've lost) is non-fiction, ebook-only cover. It's about the business of sex, and I thought the art of a red light worked pretty well for catching attention and lending subtext.

Collected Works is a private book, not available for sale, and at the far end of the spectrum from the first book. It is a book of poetry published in memory of my client's mother. I learned that she had, long ago, kept poems in what she called her "lavendar box," and that was the thought that led to this cover. It's a hard-cover book, and the cover is a "dust cover" with flaps on the inside.

It was a very short book--there weren't a lot of poems--and many of the poems were about one page long. So the interior design for Collected Works uses spreads, graphics, and white space to display her art.

Lastly, a lively, funny "food memoir" by a Jewish author. What else but Kosher Sutra would do? The art I found foreshadows the book nicely--lively, fun, and food (there are some delicious-sounding recipes in it).

Samples of other full cover designs are here.

For what it's worth,

Ray

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© 2012 Ray Rhamey

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<!-- START INTERCHANGE - ONE CRAZY SUMMER -->if(!window.igic__){window.igic__={};var d=document;var s=d.createElement("script");s.src="http://iangilman.com/interchange/js/widget.js";d.body.appendChild(s);} <!-- END INTERCHANGE --> One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garica, as you can see by crowd of awards (Coretta Scott King Award, Scott O'Dell Historical Fiction Medal, Newbery Honor

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by Janice Lovoos

{published 1966, by Golden Gate Junior Books}

I was in Seattle a few weeks ago. You remember the library, right?

I went to Pike Place Market, because of course, but also because flying fish and dudes in galoshes are a spectacle worth checking out. And I also wanted to get up close and personal with some bluefin tuna eyeballs.

There’s a real reason for that, trust me. But they didn’t have any tuna, so this happened: 

There’s not a real point to that story except that I adore that tweet (and those two Favoriters) and it’s what I did just before I wandered into Lamplight Books.

It’s like I stole something. Fifteen dollars? Sixty quarters? It still has that magical, musty smell of hidden secrets. And it was mine in a fraction of a split second. That fast.

Because…behold:

 I’m in love. From the texture of a porcupine, to the form of mountains and weeds, to the repetition inside a squash, design is everywhere.

Design is a Dandelion ends like this, with truth and a charge:

Design is everywhere. It is for everyone. All you have to do is to learn to see it. Open your eyes and take a big, long look.

Tagged: design, form, line, nature, shape, space

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Today’s post is presented by my guest blogger and science buff Betty Gail Gallender who will demonstrate how art and science join forces to create unique projects.  Here’s Betty:

I have always loved the art of creating. But what I try to understand is the “how and why” of it. This is the “Science of Art.”
Today’s experiment starts off as an art project- but helps us see that science is behind everything we make.

Our kindergarteners created the “stain glass” butterflies pictured in this entry, which inspired me to do the same lesson with the 2nd graders using “dinosaurs of the deep” as the theme.             

My questions were how did they make their “stained glass” and why did it turn out like it did?

The “How” involves some pre-work on the part of an adult. First cut out the shapes you will use on black construction paper leaving a wide outline. Trim away the inside of the design. (I used an exacto knife.) Glue the outline onto a sheet of wax paper. Turn old crayons into shavings using a pencil sharpener, a sharp knife or pair of scissors to scrape them like a carrot.

Divide the shavings by color. Then, let the kids lightly sprinkle the shavings into the open spaces on the back of the wax paper design. (Don’t use too much–a little goes a long way!) Cover the picture with another piece of wax paper. Help them place the prepared picture between a towel or a folded piece of heavy paper.
Have an adult iron over the towel covered wax paper until the crayons melt and seal the design to the second piece of wax paper. Trim the design along its outer edges and hold it up to a window to reveal your “stained glass.” Take another copy of the cutout design and glue to the back to give the picture support and a finished look.

The “Why”—your work of art looks like stain glass is due to the heat and pressure of the iron combined with the translucent qualities of the melted crayons and wax paper. The heat melts the crayons turning a solid into a translucent liquid while the pressure spreads the liquid out. The wax paper is always translucent.

Things to discuss with your kids:
Explain to them that while unmelted crayons are solids that you cannot see through, the wax paper and melted crayons become translucent. This means that you can see through them, but not clearly because they diffuse the light that is passing through them. Point out that the glass in the window is an example of something that is transparent- you can see clearly through it.
Ask them why the crayon shavings changed and discuss how heat and pressure from the iron caused the crayon shavings to melt and spread out.                                                                    

I love experiments like this because they are a perfect example of ways to engage your kids in fun projects that are both educational and entertaining. Science is not boring or hard- it’s all around us. It is something that becomes obvious when we look into the how and why of the things we make and do.
I hope you enjoyed my guest post. If you try this experiment, I’d love for you to leave a comment here or over at sciencefunwithmom.wordpress.com.

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So, things are finally starting to calm down and I'll be able to start blogging again soon! Yay! I've missed connecting with all of you.

While I get things in order, I thought I'd share this guest post I did for the "What to Expect When You are Expecting" website, ( yes, it a website for the book all expecting moms know!).  I wrote about Rain Dragon's five favorite baby books!  After all the baby book testing we've done, I thought I should share!

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Celebrate at will. I recommend a good book and a good beer.

Image credit: http://chrishallbeer.blogspot.com

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Author Grant Overstake scratched his head when a shipping invoice showed multiple copies of Maggie Vaults Over the Moon had been sent to Festus, Missouri. The mystery was solved when he discovered, to his delight, that the order had been … Continue reading →

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This spring, the team decided it was high time to hold a party for our 1000 Books Before K Club kids. We thought: May, nice weather, a bus or historic trolley - PIGEON!!! Thus was the pigeon party born.

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Lots to be thankful for this Monday... Thanks to you, THAT IS NOT A GOOD IDEA! spends it's 3rd week on the Indie Bestseller List (#6) and the New York Times Bestseller List (#4) and is joined on the NYT List by LET'S GO FOR A DRIVE! (#8). Thanks, you! Here is a brief interview about humor, the Sid Fleischman Award, and GOLDILOCKS AND THE THREE DINOSAURS from SCBWI in which I discuss

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"The arm belonged to one Jim Smith, a small-time crook who, funnily enough, hadn't been seen recently"


Some time ago Fabulous Gary Corby mentioned a crime that was solved by a shark. Naturally I perked up my fins and asked for details.  This morning Gary posted the story here on his blog.

Of course it cracked me up completely, as I hope it does you.

And if, like me, it reminds you of how much fun it is to read Gary Corby's work, well, we're all in luck there. SACRED GAMES, the third book in the Nico series, is being published tomorrow 5/21 and you're in for a treat. Publishers  Weekly thinks so too and in addition to the starred review (even calling it "the best thus far"--and both his other books were starred reviews as well!), ran an interview with Gary.

Available whereever you buy your Fabulous books!

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