“The point of the journey is science and finding the snail!” –Dr. Doolittle, in the movie. Now, just imagine he said math. Hurray! See how the big book (HUGE book) version of One Is a Snail, Ten Is a Crab took its very first visit, to an elementary school in Ohio! The book is being released March 9th.

Meet the Howlers was just released. I was planning to put my howler sounds, recorded in Panama, up on the web. But then I found some better recordings others had already posted. The best sounds are at National Geographic. This site also has photos and a bit of information:

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/howler-monkey.html

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Just out (Feb 2010) is my  brand new book based on an old favorite. Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out! has new layers in the main text, new endmatter on multiple species, and new illustrations by Annie Patterson. I was able to incorporate turtle behaviors I witnessed recently. Hooray for Charlesbridge for making this book even better than the previous one. This book is featured in NSTA’s Picture Perfect Science Lessons by Ansberry and Morgan, two crackerjack presenters.

February marks the release of my new book, Meet the Howlers! (illustrated by Woody Miller, published by Charlesbridge).This nonfiction, rhyming read aloud looks at the life of a howler monkey from the perspective of a child who is a bit envious about the things wild howlers can get away with that a human child cannot. ”A solid read-aloud for young animal enthusiasts. Ages 4–7″ –Publishers Weekly. Charlesbridge has made a wonderful poster out of the cover art. To download it, visit their site and scroll down to the bottom of the page at www.charlesbridge.com.

“We LOVE your stories. I am obessed with the story Vulture View, and built a whole lesson around it, teaching kids all sorts of weird stuff about the adaptations of vultures. We even built our own models of carrion and hid them around the forest while the vultures (my co-teacher and I) hunted for them! It was one of the best lessons we’ve taught and really stuck with the kids.”

This quote is from Chrissy Larson, the teacher Balsam of the Nuts about Nature Preschool run by the   Portland Environmental Education Department. She wrote to me this week. Below are some photos she took of her activities.

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We just found out that Candlewick is releasing ONE IS A SNAIL, TEN IS A CRAB as a BIG book in March 2010! This will be perfect for classroom and library use. It’s 17″ x 15″. Have fun with math and 100th day celebrations. The big book is in their regular catalog and on their site.

Hear a bit about the fun part of my work life and my new books in an interview on the September 29, 2009 entry in Cynthia Leitich Smith’s blog.

Do you need to write a grant, justify author visit costs, or explain the value of my visit to an administrator?Below is a list of the standards that most schools apply during studies of my books in preparation for a visit, the actual talks I give to students, and follow-up work that flows naturally from my visits.

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Creating a whiteboard activity, powerpoint, storytime, or display to celebrate birds, families? Or celebrating my newest book, Honk, Honk, Goose: Canada Geese Start a Family (Illustrated by Huy Vuon Lee and published by Henry Holt, 2009)? Here are some photos I took of geese this year. Click for a larger version. Use how you like.

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