I have two more signings coming up for Merry Christmas, Cheeps. The first is tomorrow, Saturday, December 8th at the Barnes & Noble at the Waterfront in Pittsburgh, PA from 11 to noon. I'll be doing a story time with Judy Press, a good buddy and fellow local children's book author. She's promoting
Big Fun Christmas Crafts and Activities (Williamson) which features literally hundreds of easy, attractive holiday projects to do with your kids. We'll read the Cheeps book (with props and
maybe a little singing) and Judy has a paper bag snowman project for kids to do. There will also be treats in the children's area. I think the store also has copies of other titles by me and Judy, and we'd be happy to sign those too.
Then next weekend (December 15th), I'll be joining Judy and lots of other Pittsburgh authors and illustrators at Joseph-Beth, Southside, for a benefit for one of my favorite nonprofits, Beginning with Books, whose mission is to help all children become capable and enthusiastic lifelong readers. There will be authors there signing, reading, and even wrapping the gifts you choose from noon to six. My shift is from 2 to 4, but I'm going to try to hang around later as a wrapper. A portion of the sales will go to Beginning with Books, and I think you can also purchase books for them to donate to needy kids.
Thanks to my Cheeps author, Julie Stiegemeyer, and her experience at a signing in Fort Wayne, IN last night, I now know one more thing to be prepared for at the upcoming signings: gorillas in Santa hats who scare little tykes. You can read about her author adventure on her blog.
Grab some buddies and shuffle on over!
Who: You, of course, and Julie Stiegemeyer, author, and me, Carol Baicker-McKee, illustrator
What: A book signing/holiday book fair for Merry Christmas, Cheeps!
When: From 11 to noon on Saturday, November 17, 2007. (I'll actually be there a bit earlier, around 10:30).
Where: The Barnes & Noble at South Hills Village Mall, Pittsburgh PA
Why: Because it will be fun! Plus it's a good chance to acquire a special book for a gift or for your own holiday collection.
Please join us!
The cheeps are back! And ready to celebrate the season, from catching snowflakes in their little beaks to trimming the tree and hanging stockings.
Julie Stiegemeyer has written another charming text about this family of flightless poultry that's perfect for the littlest guys. This time she used more than seven words, but Julie's style is nonetheless clearly the Prius of children's writing -- she gets an amazing amount of mileage out of very few words. The rhyming couplets not only give babies and toddlers a sneak preview of the joys they'll encounter at the holidays, they're full of the rhythm, repetition and fun-to-say words that compel toddlers to join in. And here's a cool thing I just noticed -- you can even sing the lines to the tune of "Old MacDonald." (Well, if you're completely tone deaf like me, it might not sound
exactly like "Old MacDonald...).
I'm proud of my artwork for the book too, and learned a ton in the process of making it, as the backgrounds and props were more complicated than in Cheep! Cheep! I'm also very, very pleased with the outstanding job the folks at Bloomsbury did with the photography and design of the book -- everything really pops off the page and it seems like you should be able to feel the textures. And I'm grateful all over again to my family who let me take over every flat surface in our house while I finished it up, and to my sister-in-law and fellow children's book author Karen Baicker, who kindly put up with me and my mess while I put the, uh, "finishing touches" on everything at her house when I drove East to deliver the art. (Oh yeah, and then Karen was also nice enough to drive me into the city from her house, as I am terrified of driving in Manhattan and even more frightened at the thought of parallel parking there.) Making books, like raising kids, works best as a group project.
The book was officially released this week, and I've heard from people who've spotted it in Borders. I'm buried too deep in a couple work projects to make it over to any of the bookstores (man, do I miss the children's bookstore that used to be at the top of the hill), but it's exciting to know it's out there! And it already has a ranking on amazon. I'm amazed at all those people who are obviously out shopping for the holidays already. I bet December's a lot more fun when you don't have a to-do list that's longer than Santa's good kid list....
I'm sorry that it's once again been ages since I posted anything. I actually like blogging, but it does feel like a guilty pleasure when I'm swamped with work, family, laundry, etc. And for some reason, when I'm thinking about giving into a vice, chocolate nearly always wins.
And naturally, since it's been so long I have scads I'd like to say, but I'm going to take a deep breath and say ta-ta for now.
We are pleased to announce the birth of a new blog, Creative Literacy, authored by Katie, a primary teacher at Franki's school. Katie is also the mother of three boys, known on her blog as Mo, Larry and Curly. Her blog's mission is "Nurturing the lives of primary readers and writers while searching for my own reading and writing identity."
Last Saturday morning, Franki and I met Katie at Caribou Coffee to answer some of her blogging start-up questions. Because I am just a little ahead of Franki on the technology end of blogging, that makes me the "blogging guru" in her eyes. But the thing I love about blogging is that there is a huge continuum of blogging skills/abilities/tricks. I'm nowhere NEAR the high end of the continuum with my skills. (Just ask Tricia, who this week taught me to make a link in comments using html code!) But it is enough for me that I am even ON the continuum. I know that what we do with our blog is an approximation of what could be done, but right now, I can do most everything I want to, and when I need to know how to do more, I know where to go for help. (In teacher lingo: scaffoding.)
Katie was bemoaning the amount of time she already found herself devoting to her blog, and to finding and reading other blogs. In my eyes, this is not wasted time. It may not yield a product as visible as a weeded garden, a clean house, or a knitted sweater, but it is time spend MAKING something, rather than just consuming -- watching TV, shopping, etc. And invariably, blogging leads to LEARNING as well.
I think as teachers, we must MUST MUST keep ourselves on some kind of learning curve. It doesn't matter what we are learning to do, we need to keep learning. The craft of our teaching will automatically improve if we can share with our students not just the memory of, but the real and present joy of learning.
Welcome to the party, Katie!
I learn so much through the blogosphere, too. I appreciate memes like Poetry Friday, where I can read new poems bit by bit. I've not read this much poetry since college.
Thanks for the warm welcome! I enjoyed reading your post and have to agree with the idea that blogging satisfies creativity and learning!