Firstly, I'd like to send a belated but heartfelt thanks to the students and faculty of the elementary schools in Cornwall and Salisbury, Vermont for the warm welcome I received when I was up your way a couple of weeks back. I had a brilliant time and really appreciated the superb questions and comments. What a great bunch of kids, and what could be better than a spectacular spring day up in the Green Mountains?
Next, if I may toot my own horn a bit, I am pleased to relate that my band, the College Farm, recieved the award for 'best overall unit" in our local Memorial Day Parade. We were definitely louder than the marching bands--we even drowned out the politicians, which is a nearly impossible task. Maybe that's why we won? People seemed to be rocking all over town. What a blast. After the parade we kept playing to no one all the way back to Chris A.'s barn, where we had started from. That was awesome.
Thanks Chris and Dieter and all who helped with the float. You can find some rough video of the College Farm on Youtube. We're working endlessly on our record/CD? and hope to post more music soon.
A.
Hi
I'm very happy to say that after my bright and early reading at the Cornwall School this Thursday morning I'll be hopping over to Salisbury, Vermont for an afternoon at the elementary school.
I'll be prepared to discuss skunks, arrowheads, late frost, spring fever and why chocolate chip cookies are the best food in the world.
And if one of you teachers can advise where one might acquire a good cup of coffee nearby I would be much obliged-- I'll be on the road at 6 or so.
So no post-lunch slump, you guys. Get your questions ready and we'll have a brainstorming session (subject to prior note re: coffee).
I'm pleased to announce that I'll be at the Cornwall School, Cornwall, Vt. on May 13th. It's been 2 years or so since my last reading in the Green Mountain State, so I'm excited.
I love Vermont. I've spent many days just driving the back roads up there, getting lost on purpose and looking for nothing in particular. No main highways for me.
See you soon, Cornwall. I can't wait.
A special message to all the 1st graders at Voorheesville elementary-- thanks so much for making my reading last week such a blast-- and thanks for letting me try out some new material on you! The audience participation was something else!
Also, a big round of applause for Ms. Mancuso for setting things up, and to all the other teachers for letting me steal you for a little while.
Remember-- It can always get better!!
I'm planting peas this weekend-- what are you up to?
Andy
Just a note: my reading to those brilliant and charming Voorheesville 1st graders has been pushed back to March 30th. See you then!
The weather has really started to warm up. Maddie spied some daffodils poking up in our garden last week. I looked under the mulch in the vegetable patch to see if garlic shoots had broken through, but nothing yet. I hope they survived the winter.
It was so nice the other day that I went out jogging. Someone drove past and yelled, "Hey, the sap is running!" I think they meant from the maple trees.
Slainte.
Andy
Hey you 1st graders at Voorheesville Elementary! I'm coming your way on March 19th. Get your questions and comments ready! I'll be reading some new and old stuff and talking about writing. What is a writer? What does a writer do?
Shoot me some ideas and maybe we can make up a new story together-- right on the spot.
See you soon, you rascals.
Andy
A picture from my recent appearance as the Mystery Reader for the Kindergarten at the Learning Project in Boston. After teaching the kids the Mystery Reader theme song (Ta DA!) I read a few stories. It was a blast to be there! Thanks to Ms. Bates and Ms. Zalosh for letting me invade their space, and to Marco for hosting! And thanks to all the kids for the lively reading!
I was very ably assisted on my Beantown visit by the lovely Miss Maddie and Trooper Jan, who snapped the pic. BRAVO!
This past week Maddie and I were hanging out in the kitchen while she did her homework-- as I looked out across the snowy lawn a large red fox came sprinting right toward our house. Its pelt was a sort of a rusty barn red, in stark contrast to the snow and the greyness of the trees. It ran right by Maddie's swingset-- the tail was as long as the rest of its body, all puffed up against the cold. Foxes are common here but we rarely see them, especially in daytime, except that... the next day, right after the bus picked up the kids in front of the house, two more red foxes raced acoss our lawn and crossed the street by our mailbox, right where the kids had been standing ten minutes earlier.
Humans like to think that they are in complete control of the world, but that clearly isn't true. Everything we do to the world-- no matter how dramatic, how monumental, how destructive-- is just a veneer. There is wildness everywhere, lurking just beneath the surface, waiting to reassert itself, to reclaim its primacy, at any moment. We are pretty immaterial, I think-- just another factor, like the weather, like any other predator. Just because we don't see everything that is going on around us doesn't mean it isn't happening. I love that.
The foxes are always here, going about their business. They allowed me to catch them at it, just this time. I bet I don't see them again for a year, or two, or three. Their tracks will crisscross the lawn in winter, like they did before this house was built, or this town was here. I will wonder what they were up to, though I'll never really know. I only hope they hang around for awhile to rout the squirrels from the feeders and the voles from my garden. I hardly ever see the voles, either, but they definitely massacred my beets and swiss chard this year. Darn vegetarians.
Welcome to the online home of Andrew Pelletier, children's book author. Check in often for opinions, likes and dislikes, assorted under-the-breath utterances and witty asides.
I'm the author of several picture books, among them The Amazing Adventures of Bathman, The Toy Farmer, and Sixteen Miles to Spring.
I'm the 5th of 9 kids-- do the math-- and still like to hang with both the big kids and the younger ones.
Yay, Vermont! Coming up to 10 years since we met at the VSC. OMG, as the young kids now say.