See the lovely Geisel Honor Sticker?

This relatively new award is named after Dr. Seuss and it honors both the text and illustrations of books geared for children beginning to read. I am thrilled and so happy for my work to be paired with the great illustrations done by Steve Jenkins. I attended the ALA national conference in Anaheim to accept the Honor Award.  

I also enjoyed seeing many of you at my sessions at the International Reading Association national conference in Atlanta in May, where I gave a talk as a featured author. Also, I spoke at the Illinois Reading Association conference in March and visited schools all over the place–from IN to OH to SC.

NSTA just recommended my new book, TROUT ARE MADE OF TREES, published by Charlesbridge. I love this book and I hope you will, too. Don’t forget the CONTEST for TROUT ARE MADE OF TREES.

Trout Are Made of Trees

Classrooms of students grades K-3 are encouraged to enter their environmental projects and art to compete for prizes, including a free school visit from me! The contest is open to classrooms all over the U.S. Charlesbridge will pay my travel expenses and I am donating the visit. So I will be seeing some of you in 2009! Full information on the contest can be found here:  CONTEST

I have teamed up with Charlesbridge publishing, the publisher of this book, and created the Be a Stream Hero contest. The winner of the contest wins a school visit from me.

In fact, in honor of Trout Are Made of Trees, Charlesbridge publishing staff spent a day cleaning up the Charles river! This was featured in Publisher’s Weekly. But here’s a few photos of the day on their blog: 

http://charlesbridge.blogspot.com/2008/06/practicing-what-we-publish.html

A good book to tie in with Trout Are Made of Trees is Jim Arnosky’s The Brook Book: exploring the smallest streams.

For older readers, I have heard about but not read a novel written by the great Jean Craighead George: The Case of the Missing Cutthroats (Ecological Mystery) paperback. Perhaps some older fish-loving readers might enjoy this one, which has to do with habitats and native fish.  It’s older but was re-released in paperback.

Here’s an organization, River of Words that has a yearly contest for kids’ creative writing about nature. In 2008-2009, the contest is about watersheds!

http://www.riverofwords.org/contest/index.html

scaled fish drawings

The scaled fish drawing were one by students in Knox, Co, OH

How can a leaf become a fish? Join two young children and two adults to find out, as they observe life in and around a stream. Energetic collage art and simple, lyrical text depict the ways plants and animals are connected in the food web. Back matter provides information about the trout life cycle as well as conservation efforts that kids can do themselves. It’s a natural choice for Earth Day.

Kate Endle has done a great job of illustrating this book with a bright, rich collage of paper and fabric. It reminds me of beautiful quilt art. I think Kirkus Reviews best understood the art. They said, “The illustrations, done in mixed-media collage, are a testament to the fact that wondrous new things can be created out of the pieces of other things, and thus, they reinforce the theme of interconnectedness…”

This book would be a great tie-in to Trout, Trout, Trout, a Fish Chant. See below for instructions on entering the contest related to this book.

See standards here.

A wildly popular gift for fishermen young and old, this fish chant is a celebration of North American freshwater fish. Rhyme, rhythm, repetition, voice, and wacky illustrations bring this book to life. The backmatter is full of facts about each fish. If you’re studying rivers, streams, lakes, fish, or just how to have fun with words, this book is a great resource, not to mention plain ol’ fun.For standards, see standards page.

SCHOOL VISITS GO DIGITAL
I’ve gone high tech and high content with my talks this year. My new programs feature digital video of rain forests, hummingbirds, and giant damselflies, plus solid advice and activities related to the writing process, specifically about revision. If I haven’t visited your area in a while, you’ll be amazed how my talks have evolved. I bring my own laptop and digital projector so schools don’t have to hassle with equipment. Last fall I visited fantastic schools in Kentucky, New York state, and South Carolina. Check the Educator’s corner for some creative things educators did at those schools and their reviews of my talks. (Be sure to check out the PASTA ART, which was extraordinary.) I also had a terrific visit to the OKI Literature Conference, where I gave the opening remarks.

ONE IS A SNAIL, TEN IS A CRAB has been a huge hit. It’s been translated into Japanese, Dutch, and French and it’s done well in Britain. Teachers are loving this for math for grades K-5. Yes this book really does work at the older grades. See my Educator’s Corner for what various grades have done with it.

SECRETS OF SOUND was also lauded by CCBC as one of 40 books that were outstanding in their depiction of science and scientists.

Adventures in Nature!
In February Jeff and I had a great adventure in the Amazon rain forest in Peru. We saw giant otters, parrots, macaws, pink river dolphins, and a HARPY EAGLE! We rode in dugout canoes and fished for piranha. We were in a wild part of the Amazon, far from civilization and city lights, so the stars were magnificent at night.