Archive for ‘indeed’

August 21st, 2010

Read On Dr. Kate!

Things to know: The Wisconsin governor’s wife, Jessica Doyle, runs a book club for the students of Wisconsin called Read On Wisconsin.

Things to be excited about: She’s chosen my Dr. Kate: Angel on Snowshoes as her January 2011 pick!

Dr. Kate: Angel on Snowshoes

Photographic proof of the aforementioned excitement with official letter announcing said news :


(taken by 8-year-old directly upon return from afternoon at pool, so blurry and bedraggled)

And finally, my illustrious company:

Book Selections

September
Preschool: My Garden by Kevin Henkes
Primary: Shark vs. Train by Chris Barton & Tom Lichtenheld
Intermediate: Justin Case: School, Drool and Other Daily Disasters by Rachel Vail
Middle School: One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt
High School: Hate List by Jennifer Brown
The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir by Kao Kalia Yang

October
Preschool: Boo to You! By Lois Ehlert
Primary: Z is for Zombie by Merrily Ruther
Intermediate: American Chillers: Wisconsin Werewolves by Johnathan Rand
Middle School: Boys Without Names by Kashmira Sheth
High School: Stitches by David Small
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

November
Preschool: What can you do with a Paleta?/ Que puedes hacer con una paleta?by Carmen Tafolla
Primary: The Village Garage by G. Brian Karas; Horse Song by Betsy and Ted Lewin
Intermediate: Going Home, Coming Home by Truong Tran
Middle School: Out of my Mind by Sharon M. Draper; Red Glass by Laura Resau
High School: Rush by Jonathan Friesen

December
Preschool: What Will You Be Sara Mee? By Kate Aver Avraham
Primary: Tiger and Turtle by James Rumford
Intermediate: Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman
Middle School: The Reinvention of Edison Thomas by Jacqueline Houtman
High School: Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America by Firoozeh Dumas

January
Preschool: Yes Day! By Amy Krouse Rosenthal & Tom Lichtenheld
Primary: Beautiful Moon/ Bella Luna by Dawn Jeffers
Intermediate: Dream: A Tale of Wonder, Wisdom & Wishes by Susan V. Bosak; Dr. Kate: Angel on Snowshoes by Rebecca Hogue Wojahn
Middle School: My Life with the Lincolns by Gayle Brandeis
High School: Bruiser by Neal Shusterman

February
Preschool: I Can Help by David Hyde Costello
Primary: My People by Langston Hughes
Intermediate: Looking Like Me by Walter Dean Myers
Dyamonde Daniel by Nikki Grimes
Middle School: Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick
High School: Shooting Star by Fredrick McKissack Jr.

March
Preschool: Pouch! By David Ezra Stein
Primary: Book Fiesta! By Pat Mora
Intermediate: Trickster: Native American Tales, A Graphic Collection by Matt Dembicki
Middle School: Shooting the Moon by Frances O’Roark Dowell
High School: Liar by Justine Larbalestier

April
Preschool: Never Smile at a Monkey by Steve Jenkins
Primary: A Whiff of Pine, a Hint of Skunk: A Forest of Poems by Deborah Ruddell & Joan Rankin
Intermediate: Hip Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry with a Beat by Nikki Giovanni
Middle School: All the Broken Pieces by Ann. E. Burg
High School: Partly Cloudy: Poems of Love and Longing by Gary Soto; Crossing Stones by Helen Frost

May
Preschool: A Beach Tail by Karen Lynn Williams
Primary: What if? By Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Intermediate: Top of the Order by John Coy
Middle School: More About Boy by Roald Dahl
High School: Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco Stork

Summer
Preschool: Dog’s Colorful Day by Emma Dodd
Primary: Pigs to the Rescue by John Himmelman
Intermediate: Volcano Wakes Up! By Lisa Westberg Peters
Middle School: Albert Einstein: Giants of Science by Kathleen Krull
High School: Candor by Pam Bachorz; Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Categorydr. kate, indeed, read on wisconsin | CommentNo Comments »

Tags:
June 24th, 2010

The Super-Long Father’s Day List of Books

Fathers Day

Image from BarelyFitz's Flickr Creative Commons

So, it was Father’s Day last Sunday. Per usual, I’m approximately 4 days behind the rest of the world’s calendar. That’s not to say I didn’t give my dad a hug on Sunday (we had him over for a cookout), but I didn’t exactly get his gift to him that day. I delivered it last night.

What do you give a dad who has everything? Who is retired and financially comfortable enough that he has the time and money to get and do whatever he’d like, when he’d like it*? Well, I’ve been giving him booklists. A few years ago, desperate for a gift, I gave him a bookmark with a list of books that sounded “like him.” He carried it around for a year and when he’d come in to volunteer at my school library (yes, he’s that great of a dad), he’d often have one of the books on the list under his arm. He wondered out loud to me once how I had compiled a list of so many great books that tickled his interest.

Ha! Finding books for readers is kinda what I do for a living, Dad. Probably my favorite part.

So, this year, it was time for a new list. And here it is: The Super-Long Father’s Day List of Books. It IS long, in no particular order, a strange mix of nonfiction, mystery, and science fiction/fantasy, and it includes some series halfway through because that’s where my dad is in them. I don’t know why I’m posting it here, except it’s books and it’s a list and I’m a librarian, so pass it on I must in the hopes that someone else somewhere might find their “just right” book.

Enjoy! (And please, I’m always looking for suggestions for next year’s list. Send them my way!)

* Not that he necessarily does. He’s pretty frugal, my dad. Which only makes gift-giving harder because if you give something too extravagant, it might be construed as, well…extravagant.

* I’ve already waxed on about my dad and reading here.

CategoryBooks and Reading, book look, booklist, indeed, listmania, readers | CommentNo Comments »

Tags:
May 18th, 2010

Award Again; Different Book!

Fun news! Dr. Kate is an Indie Excellence Award finalist for children’s nonfiction!

Categoryawards, dr. kate, indeed | CommentNo Comments »

Tags:
April 6th, 2010

News: Hey, We Won an Award!

It’s not a major award (like, you know, a Newbery or a leg lamp), but check it out: The Society of School Librarians International has named our Savannah Food Chain book a Science Grades K-6 Honor Book!

You can see their full list of 2009 winners here: http://societyofschoollibrarians.webs.com/2009bookawards.htm.

Categoryawards, follow that food chain, indeed, savanna | CommentNo Comments »

Tags:
February 22nd, 2010

Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller

 

CategoryBooks and Reading, indeed, readers | CommentNo Comments »

Tags:
January 3rd, 2010

Favorite Reads of 2009

According to my bookshelf on Goodreads, I read 143 books in 2009. It’s actually more than that because I didn’t start adding to Goodreads until partway through the year. The rest of my list is here. But anyway… I gave 18 of them 5 stars. They are:

2009

So you’d think these would be my favorites of 2009, right? Um, kind of. While I do still really like all of these books, when I consider my favorite-favorites, I always think about how much the book stuck with me. How much I remember it later. How much I’ve thought about it since I finished it. To me, those are the Truly Best Stories. And those are here:

2009

And just in case you can’t read the covers, that’d be…

All the World

The Mistress of the Art of Death

One World, One Day

The Frog Scientist

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

When the Whistle Blows

Beka Cooper

The Dunderheads

Heart of a Shepherd

Ain’t Nothing But a Man

Ways to Live Forever

Home of the Brave

Categorybook look, booklist, indeed, mullings | CommentNo Comments »

Tags:
December 22nd, 2009

Glad Tidings

A few tidbits that made me smile so far this week.

I’m officially on vacation for the next 12 days!

hgg_playawayThe first grade teachers won a grant at our school to get Playaways for their classroom listening stations. Have you seen a Playaway? They’re like iPods for books. Very cool–and very popular with our students. I smile because I helped a little with the grant writing.

frostyWe’re supposed to get more snow. Christmas snow. As a kid, I always wished for Christmas snow–you know how the Frosty the Snowman cartoon proclaims that Christmas snow is magic? Looks like we’ll have plenty this year in my part of the world. I think the boys, their cousins, and I will have to do something with that.

Highlights wants a story of mine. Even though I have some nonfiction books out, this is my first fiction sale. So I smile.

CindyLouWhoToday, at the end of our last school day before break, we had an all-school sing in the gym. Just 400 kids and their teachers sitting criss-cross on the floor and belting out “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (complete with the echoes!) and other favorites. The lyrics for all the songs were projected on a giant screen. Suddenly, the screen went dark. As everyone mumbled through the second verse of “Deck the Halls,” I waded through the crowd to see what was wrong. I arrived at the projector and peered down. There, staring up at me with huge Cindy Lou Who eyes, was a kindergartener with a quivering finger over the now-dark switch on the power strip. “Did you push the button?” I asked. She sat on her hand. And I smiled. “Well, push it again!”

At this same sing along, I got to see and hear the results of weeks of listening to the fifth graders (my own Mr. E included) practice “The Carol of the Bells” on xylophones (ding, doo dee doo; ding, doo dee doo; ding, doo dee doo…). Well, watching them perform together with such pride and skill was amazing and made the earworm totally worth it. (ding, doo dee doo; ding, doo dee doo; ding, doo dee doo…)

and finally,

I’m officially on vacation for the next 12 days!

(ding, doo dee doo; ding, doo dee doo; ding, doo dee doo…)

Categoryindeed | CommentNo Comments »

Tags:
October 28th, 2009

Serendipity through the Mail

A librarian from Florida contacted me earlier this month. She is retiring and looking for new homes for some of her books.  She was wondering if I’d like her autographed copy of Adele Comandini’s 1956 biography of Dr. Kate Pelham Newcomb, Angel on Snowshoes. Autographed not by Adele Commandini, but by Dr. Kate.

Oh, my.

Who is this Dr. Kate?, you are probably wondering. Well, she was one of the only doctors in northern Wisconsin in the first half of the 20th century. She visited her patients by snowshoe, by canoe, and by snomobile. She knew to stop by a home if a red rag was tied to a bush along the road. She took her payments in firewood and vension steaks. She delivered over 2,000 babies and never lost a mother or child. She was so beloved by her community, the high schoolers held a penny drive to raise $10,000 to build her a hospital. They were successful beyond anyone’s dreams–collecting over $130,000 from all over the world. Because of their efforts, Dr. Kate ended up on the TV show This is Your Life and having a best-selling book written about her.

A original signed copy of which is now in my home and in my hands.

IMG_0170  IMG_0171

Why me? Well, 50 years after all this occurred, I found Dr. Kate’s story and I turned it into a book for the Wisconsin Historical Society Press.

So, yes, Diane Welch Kazlauskas of the University of North Florida, I am delighted to give your book a home. It is a treasure to me.

Categorydr. kate, indeed | Comment1 Comment »

Tags:
October 23rd, 2009

Friday Five

1. I’ve returned to LJ. (Some of you may remember me as the Livejournaler rhwojahn.) I abandoned all extraneous writing 3 years ago under the pressure of a new job and a school/library series to write. The series is done now. And I’m settled in my job. So I’m back—I really missed the writerly connections that happen over there. So now my posts here will also show up there.

2. I got new running shoes. They’re the exact model and brand of my last two pair. But they only come in black now. I’m not totally sold on the color–I’ve never in my life had black running shoes. It seems wrong. What do you think?

9549990_w

3.  THIS should not be happening here on October 23. I want my sunny autumn days!

4. I picked up Donuthead by Sue Stauffacher Wednesday to read while staying home with Mr. E. It’s hilarious. And I can’t help but imagine how horrified Franklin Delano Donuthead would be with all the sniffles and hacks I’ve dodged this week at work.

5. Tonight we’re off to visit Aunt Ruby and the Ghost Trolley in Minneapolis! (Doesn’t Aunt Ruby and the Ghost Trolley sound like a good middle grade novel title?)

Categoryindeed | Comment2 Comments »

Tags:
October 14th, 2009

done

It’s not DONE done, or even Done done, but it’s done: I finished my draft of MALCOLM. Whew! It’s only been….um…a little over two years. Granted, I did have 13 other books under contract that I had to write during the first year and a half. But, yeah, I’m a slow writer. Both my boys will not hesitate to tell you this.

In celebration of finishing, I will indulge in a list. Behold. Here are some things that kept me writing even when the story made no sense at all:

  • The Coffee Grounds. Especially their back corner table and their tendancy to not bother you and let you stay for hours. And their scones. I only make it about once a week, but it’s my best, most productive writing time.
  • Giving up on writing every day. It was a perpetual guilt trip. Instead, I’ve declared an hour before work on Mondays and Thursdays and Saturday mornings as my protected, not-to-be-interrupted-unless-there’s-blood-or-fire-or-someone’s-unconscious writing time. This works for me.
  • Pandora. Especially my Nick Lowe channel.
  • The document map feature on Word. I was introduced to this on the Blueboards. How did I live without this?
  • Writing scenes out of order. I’ve never tried this before, but when I got stuck near the end of MALCOLM, I jotted down all the scene that I knew were going to happen sometime in the story on Post-it notes. Then I turned them over and picked one at random. It was so wonderfully freeing–I felt silly for not trying this earlier. But I guess I’m just a linear person.
  • Post-it notes. See above. Also used for notes to myself of things to do, people to call, and anything else that pops up in my brain as an attempt to draw me away from writing. I Post-it and keep writing.
  • malcolm2The SCBWI WIP grant. And a wonderful critique from Deborah Lynn Jacobs. Both of these came just at the right time. This past year I’ve turned down some other book offers–a professional library one and more school/library nonfiction books–as well as some articles. It felt really wrong and scary to say no to some sure things. But one thing I learned from writing the Follow the Food Chain series is that I only have time for one writing project at a time. And if I want to write middle grade fiction, then I have to say no to the rest. So getting a little encouragement with the fiction really helped quell my panic attacks.
  • echigh.jpgVisuals. I picked up a stuffed rat at IKEA this summer. It’s Malcolm. It just is. And I also have a picture of  “McKenna School” as the desktop of my computer. I would like to think these things don’t matter, but the truth is, they both get me ready to write.

So, what helps you to keep going?

Categoryindeed, listmania, malcolm at midnight, writing | CommentNo Comments »

Tags:
September 21st, 2009

Every Reader Tells a Story

I first read this phrase as a blog post over on the Book Whisperer’s blog. She talked about how everybody has a story about how they came to reading. (Or even, as I thought at the time, a story about how or why they didn’t come to reading. These stories, I suspect, may be even more interesting.) But anyway, the Book Whisperer asked people to share their stories. I loved reading everyone’s responses. And, of course, I also got to thinking about my own reading story. It goes as follows:

I first came to reading at midnight—with a newspaper and a bowl of cherries.

I was very young, still wearing diapers at night, when I first became a reader. No, I wasn’t a child prodigy. I am simply the oldest child in my family, so when I was little, my dad was still in medical school. He’d come home at night, way late, exhausted from his rounds at the hospital. And every night, my mom would have dinner—and me—waiting for him.

cherriesMy dad would eat, then he’d retreat to the scratchy olive green plaid couch in the living room. And I’d scramble up next to him. We’d wedge a bowl of cherries between us, and then, with a waft of ink and a slight breeze on my face, my dad would flick open the newspaper. That simple twitch of his wrist would seal us off from the rest of the world, in a place where just the two of us existed, snuggling and snacking on those red-black cherries.

I don’t remember my dad reading to me as he looked at the paper. Most likely he didn’t. After all, it’s hard to read aloud when you’re spitting out cherry pits. All I remember is knowing that if I kept quiet enough and kept looking like I was reading, too, I’d get to stay up later. And snuggle longer. And eat more cherries. Already, I knew that reading was something so significant, so special and so…juicy, it broke all the normal rules.

Eventually, our late nights had an affect on me. Besides needing a good, long nap each day at most other people’s dinner time, I knew something else about reading and me. I had sat there long enough, watching my dad and staring at the black and white columns of the newspaper, that I felt like I was reading, too—just as much as my dad was.

And that’s how, years before I actually learned to read a word, I became a reader. Because knowing you are a reader counts much more in a person’s “reading story” than word decoding skills, comprehension scores, or lexile levels. I knew that reading was important. And I knew that reading was something I did. And with that, my little preschooler brain was primed for future reading adventures.

My reading story. A bowl of fruit, current events, and my reader dad—way, way past any kid’s normal bedtime.

What’s yours?

(cherries picture thanks to IH on Flickr Creative Commons)

CategoryBooks and Reading, indeed, mullings | CommentNo Comments »

Tags: