August 30th I’ll be speaking at the yearly conference of the Children’s and Young People’s Division of the Indiana Library Federation. I  am looking forward to meeting folks as well as catching up with many wonderful children’s librarians I’ve crossed paths with during my Indiana travels. Psst… I’ve got some great book news to share, too.  Hint: many of you have had a “taste” of this work in progress.

Just back from speaking at the wonderful Picture Perfect Science workshop in Ohio.

Recently got a peek at my new book, Feb 2011 release: IF YOU’RE HOPPY, illustrated by Jackie Urbanovic, published by Greenwillow. It’s humorous fiction, a read aloud for the very youngest and fun for preschool/K story hour.  Jackie and Greenwillow did an amazing job producing this book; it just feels yummy in some essential way. I’m thrilled.

Meet me at the International Reading Association (IRA) National Conference in Chicago!

Monday April 26th, 2-3 p.m. Signing at Henry Holt booth

Tuesday April 27th, 9-10 a.m. Signing at Charlesbridge booth

Thank you to Isabel Baker at the Book Vine, who hosted me at DVAEYC, the Delaware Valley Association for the Education of Young Children, where I spoke last week. (Philadelphia was awesome!) Isabel specializes in children’s books perfect for the youngest students and the educators who work with them. Her business is in Illinois but she ships far and wide.

Here are three recordings I made in Panama. Just click on the call and a sound player will come on screen. You can also hear toucans grinding their bills and parrots flying past in these recordings. Sharp ears might hear hummingbirds clicking and other tropical forest birds calling.

Howler call

Howler call2

Howler call3

Trout Are Made of Trees has been nominated for the 2011 Grand Canyon Reader Award so lots of AZ schoolchildren will be reading it next school year. Hooray!

“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.

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.

It was recently featured as a book of the week at the wonderful CCBC, Cooperature Children’s Book Center. Hurray!

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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