What To Read When
Pam Allyn’s What to Read When is a great resource for parents and teachers trying to find that just-right book for a certain age or interest. What a thrill to find one of my own books included! Amazing Snakes is listed under “Research Books” for five-year olds. I love the idea of my books helping to inspire a love for science and a fascination with the natural world.
Allyn says, “What better way to introduce our kids to the value of exploration and research than to seize their interests and passions early on and and introduce them to books that will help them puzzle out the answers to their most fervent wonderings.” I couldn’t agree more!
Read MoreThe Speech
Deadly Flowers won a snazzy award from the Wisconsin Library Association, which I am so very happy about…but maybe we can all sit around in a circle and read the book instead of me having to get up and talk about it?
It is so weird that I can happily work away at a novel for years, but ask me to write a speech about how or why I wrote said novel and my insights into the writing process and what it makes me think about the human condition, and all I want to do is crawl under my desk whimpering. Why is that?
Read MoreImagine a Classroom
The creative and thoughtful and marvelous second graders of Barrett Ranch Elementary School created a wonderful project–their own version of Imagine a Day. Theirs, however, is Imagine a Classroom. Now I want to go to school where there is a giant waterslide on the roof and giraffes in the classroom, where magic paper instantly corrects my mistakes and no one ever feels left out!
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Funa Yurei
These funa yurei are more robust and less skeletal and spooky than the ones Kata meets in Deadly Wish. Note the headgear, however. A white, triangular headdress such as that used in an ancient Buddhist funeral ceremony is a dead giveaway (pardon the pun) of a funa yurei.
If you are sailing off the coast of Japan and the fog sweeps in, beware…you might be approached by a funa yurei.
The spirits of sailors who have died at sea, funa yurei sometimes try to sink boats and sometimes to snag an unlucky soul to take their own place on a ghostly ship. Often a funa yurei will demand a bucket or a ladle from its victims. If they refuse the ghost will sink their ship in vengeance. If given a bucket, the ghost will pour water into the ship, swamping it. How to get out of this hopeless situation? Hand the ghost a bucket or ladle with the bottom removed. It will futilely try to scoop water up with the bottomless vessel, leaving you free to sail quickly away.
(Kata, the heroine of Deadly Wish, did not know this trick. She was forced to try and come up with other ideas to defeat the funa yurei she encountered.)
Read MoreSarah L. Thomson
A children’s book author publishing award-winning nonfiction, poetry, picture books and novels including…
“Thomson focuses on newfound connection, magic, and suspense to conjure a fast-paced, heartwarming mystery. Thomson’s world is populated by resourceful protagonists, fanciful creatures, and quirky supporting characters.”
—Publishers Weekly