Deadly Flowers Giveaway!
Deadly Flowers
Twenty-four lucky libraries got a free copy of Deadly Flowers in a giveaway created by the awesome and entertaining Curious City. They also got a chance to try a great interactive game that uses the book to help readers find their way around the stacks. Here’s what some had to say:
“A perfect book for the age group about making decisions.”
“Excited about this book!”
“How cool is this kit? I can’t wait to use it for a back-to-school event!! :)”
“I already know my kids are going to be interested in this book! Thank you for this opportunity!”
“I can’t wait to play this game with the library tweens!”
“I have students who will LOVE this!”
“I know just the right students for this book!”
“I know some kids that would enjoy this book!”
“I think my students will love this book!”
“Kids will love this!”
“Looks like a great book for our library!”
“My students love this type of book.”
“Nice to see a female taking the lead in an action adventure.”
“Our middle school students in our after school students would love this book!”
“Sounds great for my middle schoolers!”
“Sounds like a book the kids (and I) will love!”
“Sounds like a Great MS read for my students & pre-service teachers!”
“Sounds like an awesome story for our middle school readers!”
“The activity kit looks great.”
“This is a great giveaway! We have a really active manga patronage, and I think this would be a great book to entice them to the traditional print format.”
“This looks like a great book club title. Thanks!”
“This looks like a really great book! Thanks for the opportunity to share it with my patrons.”
“This looks like a very interesting read and I think it would be a big hit in our library!”
“This sounds so interesting!”
“This would be a great book to feature this summer when we have free lunch and could spend all afternoon running a ninja school training!”
“This would be great for my ninja fans!”
“This would be great for our bookclub!”
Ninjas In the Stacks!
My awesome publicist, Kirsten Cappy of Curious City, has created a thrilling ninja activity for bookstores and libraries! Readers will become book ninjas as they use their wits and dexterity and perhaps a card catalog to uncover clues and solve puzzles and perform challenges. Great, fun, and active–fabulous for grades 5-10. Check it out!
McArthur School
Last Friday I did a round of poetry workshops with some of the classes at a McArthur Elementary. I snapped a picture of this fabulous quilt hanging up in the main office.
I loved the energy and excitement of the kids as they listened to poems and tried writing their own. Especially the Asian girl who earnestly asked for the right English adjective to describe quick, happy, upbeat music (she was pleased with my suggestion of “lively”) and then proudly read her poem aloud in her tentative English; the Hispanic girl who wrinkled her nose a bit at my Spanish accent but still smiled at me to make sure she wouldn’t hurt my feelings; the Caucasian boy who squirmed throughout my presentation until I thought he was bored out of his skull and then blew me away with one of the best poems I’ve heard; the Middle Eastern girl who hugged me and said she could now check “hugging an author” off her bucket list.
It was lovely to see all these bright, eager, American face light up with joy to be talking about artwork and writing poems.
Read MoreCurious George, the Refugee
Those who fled war and political persecution have enriched our society in so many ways–including with words and images. Curious George is only one of the characters created by authors and illustrators from all over the world who made the United States a refuge and a home.
For more books created by refugees, click here.
Read MoreA Glimpse Inside a Writer’s Closet
If you peeked into my closet today, you’d see:
- a stuffed cobra that can be posed with its head and neck pulled into striking position
- a facsimile of a gravestone from 1893
- a pirate hat
- and of course unruly piles of books.
All of these are legitimate work-related objects. #writingisweird
Read More
Mean Girls and Elementary School
So it happened a while back. Probably it happens to most kids eventually. My daughter was friends with a Mean Girl. You know, there were the promises of friendship and the gifts and the insults and the “I won’t play with you if you don’t do what I say.”
I told my brother and he yawned and said, “You can’t choose your kid’s friends.”
I told my writers’ group and we spent a good twenty minutes reviewing who said what to whom and hashing out the power dynamics. I mean, it’s material, people.
I promise, I don’t try to fight my daughter’s social battles for her, despite heavy temptation. And who knows, maybe this other kid’s mother also thought her daughter was friends with a Mean Girl. Probably they will both go to college despite all of this and grow up to live productive lives.
But I wonder–is it even harder for those of us who create children’s literature to keep that bit of distance that lets our kids become themselves? I swear, I had to bite my tongue when my girl came home from school so I didn’t ask breathlessly, “What did she do TODAY?” Oh, the bitter politics of the playground, the crushing anxiety about whether a friend of today is a friend for tomorrow, the dance of who sits next to whom. It’s not just my memories–it’s my work life. I take a pen in my hand and relive it over and over again.
(In my latest book, however, I made my main character a ninja who can solve social issues among her peer group by kicking people in the head. So there.)
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