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I had a fantastic experience at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum this weekend.  Museum Educator Sarah Lyman emailed me a few months ago with an invitation.  Would I like to participate in a book club for Champlain and the Silent One hosted at the museum?  Kids would read the book along with their parents, then come to the museum on the weekend of the Native American Encampment to talk about it and learn more about what Silent One's life might have been like.  Would I be interested in participating?  You bet! 



The reenactors who took part in the weekend were fabulous educators and spent lots of time showing hands-on displays of everything from cooking utensils to weapons they'd set up on the museum grounds. The kids who attended had great comments and questions during my presentation, and the group was small enough that we actually got to have a discussion -- something you can't really do when you're talking in front of an assembly of 300 kids.  We were still chatting away when the next group started filing into the auditorium for a screening of Dr. Fred Wiseman's Quadricentennial film 1609: The Other Side of History, so we moved our party outside and talked some more during book signing time.



I was especially impressed with some of the younger readers, or listeners as the case may be, who enjoyed the book as a read-aloud with their parents and older siblings.  They had great observations, too, and reminded me that when we write a book and send it out into the world, we can put whatever age range we want on the cover, but that book will find readers of many ages -- younger and older than perhaps we'd intended -- and some of those unintended readers bring wonderful new perspectives on a story we thought we knew inside and out.

This was the first in a series of summer Quadricentennial events on my calendar.  I'll be reading & signing books at the South Burlington  Barnes & Noble from 4-6pm on Friday, July 24th.  It's a "Lake Champlain Weekend" there;  right after my event, Mike Winslow of the Lake Champlain Committee will be signing his new book, Lake Champlain: A Natural History. 

On July 25th, I'll be speaking at the League of Vermont Writers summer picnic, along with poet Daniel Lusk, whose new collection of poems explores what's under Lake Champlain's surface.  I'm intrigued by this idea and can't wait to hear his talk.

On July 29th, I'll be giving a presentation for kids & families at the Alburg Public Library.  And in August...I'll be home, enjoying my family and summer and the lake, and gearing up for a busy autumn when The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z is released September 1st. 

The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum is an amazing resource for lake history, so when their educators asked if I'd be part of a book club for families, I jumped at the chance.  I love the way they've scheduled the book club event to coincide with the museum's Native American Encampment so kids will get to see and touch so many of the things they read about in Champlain in the Silent One -- right down to a replica of a birch bark canoe.  Here's the flyer... Feel free to share the link if you know families that might be interested!

2009 marks the 400th anniversary of Samuel de Champlain's voyage from Quebec to explore the lake that now bears his name.  There are big doings to mark that anniversary this year, and special Quadricentennial groups in New York and Vermont are planning more events for the summer.

Since my middle grade novel CHAMPLAIN AND THE SILENT ONE tells the story of that voyage through the eyes of an Innu boy who travels with Champlain, I've had quite a few requests to speak to different groups and schools this year.  I'm excited about all the places I'll be visiting, up and down the lake.  My Quadricentennial schedule kicked off this morning at Dodge Memorial Library in Rouses Point, NY.  It's a terrific library that looks out over a very frozen Lake Champlain.





Since we're celebrating the stories of the lake this year, I read from both of my Lake Champlain historical novels and gave a presentation about the research behind them.  The kids were fantastic listeners and avid historians, and they had great questions.  Some of them are authors, too, with plans to write their own books some day.  I'm going to keep my eyes open for them in the bookstore in a few years!



Thanks, Dodge Memorial Library families and "Miss Donna" for having me as your guest today!

Usually, when people ask me to describe my new Lake Champlain historical novel, I tell them it's about an Innu boy who travels with Samuel de Champlain on his journey from Quebec to encounter the Iroquois in 1609.  But Champlain and the Silent One is more than that.  While there's a very literal journey in this book, there's an internal journey as well -- a journey from silence to finding one's voice.

The main character, Silent One, is silent for a reason; he had a vision and gave a warning that was ignored, resulting in his uncle's death.  He felt like his voice didn't matter.  Why use it?

But it does matter.  For all of us.




So here's how to enter the contest.

Election Day provides us with an opportunity to to speak in a way that matters profoundly.  Promise you'll speak by voting on November 4th. Leave a comment here, saying so, and you'll be entered in a drawing for a signed copy of Champlain and the Silent One. If you mention this contest on your blog or website and link back here, I'll enter you twice. Just send me an email (kmessner at katemessner dot com) with the link and let me know.

If you're not old enough to vote, you can still enter.   Talk with a parent or friend who is planning to vote, and make arrangements to go with someone on Election Day to see what it's like.  Leave a comment that tells me you'll be someone's voting buddy, and promise to vote when you turn eighteen.  And then do it.  (I'll do everything in my power to track you down and reclaim your prize if you don't.)

Now the small print stuff...

Due to shipping costs, you must live in the Continental United States to win.  (That means Sarah Palin is not eligible.)  If you're not registered on Live Journal, please remember to leave your name (if you're under 18, please leave a first name only to protect your privacy) so that you can be entered in the drawing. It's hard to mail books to Anonymous.

The deadline to enter the contest is this Friday, September 26th at midnight EST -- right after the Presidential candidates' first debate.  I'll announce the winner on my blog on Monday, September 29th.

1. My new regional MG historical novel, Champlain and the Silent One, is available for pre-order on Amazon!  Seeing it there with a cover and a blurb and everything brings it one step closer to real.  The book is due out early next month, and  I'll be signing copies at the Burlington Book Festival on September 14th.

2. The Cybils blog is active again!  If you're a kid-lit blogger, consider volunteering as a panelist or judge for this year's Children & YA Bloggers Literature Awards.  I served as panelist for the Middle Grade Fiction category last year and loved every minute & every page.

3. Espresso Therapy Ice Cream is really, really good.  (It it a testament to my self control that I stopped short of finishing the pint.)

Five things I did this week...

1. Wrote another 6150 words on my new MG novel - I broke the 27,000 mark tonight, and I love where the story is going. 
2. Met the illustrator of Spitfire for the first time.  Her name is Martha Gulley, and she's not only talented but so, so nice.  She's doing chapter illustrations for my new book, Champlain & the Silent One, right now. Waiting to see what she does with it is like waiting for Christmas.
3. Talked with librarians and teachers about some school visits I have coming up this spring and cooked up a brand new historical writing workshop to fit one of the school's requests.  I'm pulling together diaries, artifacts, images, period food and games, and it's going to be so much fun!
4. Read Love and Other Uses for Duct Tape by carriejones and felt like I was in high school again.  It was funny and sad and wonderful.  And I was reminded that the tiniest sensory details can make a book shine.  The rip in the vinyl seat of a pickup truck.  A crack in the sidewalk that looks like New Hampshire.  I loved this book.  It's the kind of YA novel that most of my middle school readers aren't ready for just yet -- more of a high school title -- but it will be well worth the wait.  Thanks, Carrie!!
5. Picked up tickets for the family to see The King and I at Chazy Music Theater.  My friend Andrew is directing this play, and you should go, too.  Unless you live in California or Iceland or something. Then I understand.  But you'll still miss an amazing show.  

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Anette Heiberg
www.anetteheiberg.com