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What are you doing on October 6?

How does breaking a world reading record while raising awareness about America’s achievement gap?


Join me and TLA, Inc. as we participate in Jumpstart’s Read for the Record® presented in partnership with Pearson Foundation. Its a national campaign that mobilizes adults and children to close the early education achievement gap by setting a reading world record.

This annual campaign allows Americans to demand that all children receive the quality early education they deserve. On October 6, 2011, more than 2 million voices will call for an end to America’s early education achievement gap by reading Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney – setting a world record in the process!

Get involved at www.readfortherecord.org to help Jumpstart close the early education achievement gap:

1. Pledge to Read: Submit your official pledge and help us reach more than 2.1 MILLION children.

2. Spread the Word: Use our simple tools to educate your friends and family about America’s early education achievement gap and invite them to read.

You can even become a partner, a facilitator in your community, calling hundreds of folks to read this delicious book on the same day.

For more information visit www.readfortherecord.org


While you're looking at this terrific children's book, perfect for youngsters with lots of rhythm and rhyme and interesting language, check out the author's website or see her read the book on YouTube.

Enjoy!  When you read this book to your little llama or a group of little ones, tell us about the experience.  What is your favorite part?  What is your favorite word?  How many times does the book include the phrase "llama, llama red pajama"?     I've chosen a number between 1 and 32 - if you are that number of post on this blog, you'll get a chance to have the Literacy Ambassador call your little one (or come by if you live in North Alabama) and share her special version of this book delivered in Engaged Interactive Read Aloud technique to your chosen group of children.   Join in the fun!

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Does the title of this week's blog sound like a scene from 'Highlanders'? (That excellent movie from the 80's ..) well it might. I started a little group of illustrators and writers on Facebook that gathers in an imaginary snug bar in a Highland Tavern and sits and chats about this and that. So far we are having fun! Never would I have thought that FB could have given me so much pleasure when I joined with such misgivings earlier this year. I have found old friends and made new. It has brought me new business contacts (and work). It has introduced my illustration to folks I would never have normally reached. It picks me up when I am down and even gives me inspiration through my connections with like minded people. It is, in short, a great place to gather. And I for one, in what is sometimes a lonesome occupation, say cheers mate!

Been scribbling away this week ... I did work on the pastel of the HORSE ... here it is ...

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After all this spinning, I thought I should do a bit of knitting. So what did I do? Knit something with yarn I bought at the Royal Winter Fair.

It was a soft squooshy 100g skein from Sonny's Llama Farm. I found it in a basket at the Llama display. Now that I'm on Ravelry, it has changed my knitting. It's so great to be able to look up an item and find lots of patterns, even free ones, and then see what it looked like when other people made it.

This hat is my first Ravelry project! Here's the link:
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/needlebook/slouchy-copy-cat-hat
but I think you may need to be a member to view projects on Ravelry.

The pattern was for a slouchy hat but I didn't have enough yarn, so I shortened it to make a regular hat that would use up my skein as much as possible. Finishing a project and having just a short tail of yarn leftover is one of my big thrills in life. I love this hat! The pattern calls for worsted and my yarn was aran weight (a bit heavier) so it turned out really warm and squishy. Also llama yarn can be super warm, so the eyelets should help. The pattern is so easy, once you do the four rows for the first time, you can see where you are and carry on without looking at the pattern. And the eyelet mock cable stitch is very pretty.

In case you're not on Ravelry, the free pattern is here. I made another change in mine which was decreasing in the pattern. I thought it would look nice if I did that, especially as mine isn't slouchy. Here are my notes on that:

FINISHED
Note: I started decreasing after 5 1/4" instead of 8 1/2"
I changed the pattern so that it decreased in the pattern instead of all knit. It worked really well by ending on Row 3 of the Eyelet Mock Cable stitch, then decreasing as follows:

Row 1: K, YO, K, P2tog
Row 2: K3, P1
Row 3: SL1, K2, PSSO, P1
Row 4: K2, P1
Row 5: K2TOG, P1
Row 6: K1, P1
Row 7 on: same as pattern.

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I'm back in the Atlanta airport, waiting, this time, for the plane that will take me to Lima, Peru. No, this is not part of the book tour. I am going to Lima to speak at an American School there, the same way that I went to Warsaw, Poland in 2007.

Many people have written to ask if I'll be going to Machu Picchu. Sadly, the answer is no. I get altitude sickness easily and I have wicked asthma - the combination of the two makes it unsafe for me to travel to altitude alone. But I hope I can come back with the Beloved Husband one day. He will take many photos of me wheezing or passed out amongst breath-taking scenery.

I am under strict orders from BH to avoid wheatgrass, btw. He would be happiest if I abstained from all adventurous eating on this trip. Not sure I'll be able to comply fully (I'm going to PERU, for crying out loud. Must try new food!!!) But no wheatgrass. Never, ever, ever, ever again. And no llama beans, thunderchiken. No, thank you.

This weekend I will be absorbing a tiny bit of Lima courtesy of the peripatetic Hoiseth family. Monday - Friday I'll be giving presentations about my books and writing workshops at the Colegio F. D. Roosevelt. Late Friday night I start the long journey home. I would have loved to schedule some vacation time, but the next week I head to California for the LA Book Festival, and shortly after that is the International Reading Association Conference in MN.

At this point, being able to wake up in my own bed for a week running will feel like a vacation.

I am not sure if I'll be able to blog or tweet from Peru. So I will post a bunch of links right now to keep you busy while I'm gone:

1. Publisher's Weekly has a nice article (with photos!) about how I used Twitter on the book tour. Hello new media! You can read my Twitter stream here, if you want.

2. The YAthenaeum has posted a terrific recap of the poetry slam, Time Warp, and my time at Books & Books, complete with video. Booksellers - if you're looking for a model of how to run a teen book club, here it is.

3.

Watch my Q & A session from my book tour stop at Kepler's in Menlo Park, CA. Really there was a BUNCH of people there, but no one wanted to sit up front. They had no doubt heard out my tendency to foam at the mouth and spit (unintentionally, of course) when I get on a rant.

And spitting brings us, at llong llast, to llamas. I have been assured that I won't see any llamas in LLima, but I might get llucky. I am llonging for a llama encounter. I am playing with all kinds of multi-llingual puns along of the lines of "Como se llama, llama?"

(If you were walking with your dog and you saw a llama who resembled Perry Como, you might ask your dog, "Perro, como se llama llama?" And then, if LLorenzo LLamas joined you....)

I definitely need to get more sleep.

I'll be back here sooner, hopefully than llater.

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