Just when I thought the school year couldn’t get any better, it did. Jeff and I drove to the U.P. of Michigan so I could speak at the Marquette-Alger Young Authors Conference.  

Wow. This is the largest young author event I have seen. Over the course of 4 days, about 3,000 students from surrounding school districts were brought to Northern Michigan University. (more…)

   Val Byrd Fort, media specialist at New Providence Elementary fixed up these great invitations sent to students chosen for a special small group writers’ chat with me. This is a new event I started offering in addition to my traditional large group talks at schools late this school year. I met with only about 12 students each time. And oh, the joy of it! (more…)

Thanks to super science teacher Bobette Owen (on the right in the photo), I visited Miller Ridge Elementary on Feb 12, 2009.  The students were great! I love that they have so much science in this school. Just look at how Ms. Owen combined science with writing and poetry. In honor of my book Vulture View (illustrated by Steve Jenkins and published by Henry Holt) her students wrote vulture list poems!

Interested in vultures? Buzzard Day in Hinckley, Ohio is coming up on March 15, 2009.