Find Your Park!

Ever since the Olympics started, I've become a world-class couch potato.  (Quite an irony, huh?)  

But at the end of the week, I'll do a dismount from the davenport and head west.

On Saturday, August 20, I plan to be in Rapid City, South Dakota, for the "Find Your Park" celebration -- part of the National Park Service's centennial celebration.

The event will be held at "Main Street Square" in downtown Rapid City. I'll be at the Mount Rushmore Bookstores booth between 10:00-2:00.  Please stop in to say hi! 

But this isn't just about Mount Rushmore. The event will also be celebrating other national gems, including Badlands National Park, Wind Cave National Park, Jewel Cave National Memorial, and Devils Tower National Memorial. You'll find a ton of fun activities for all ages.

See you there!

For more information, visit Find Your Park

Back again...

It has been about a year and a half since posting anything...and it's not for lack of things going on! The speaking schedule has been crazy, family life has been happily full, and I have a new book in the works.

As far as the speaking...I just finished a busy winter-spring which began at Sisseton High School with a Artist-in-Residence program in the middle of January. I worked with juniors and seniors with found poetry and picture book writing. Wow. The minds and abilities of young people are incredible!  

I finish the winter-spring season on May 10 in Pierre with a book discussion about Mount Rushmore Memories, the book I edited with Debbie Ketel of the Mount Rushmore Society in 2011.

Then, it's off to family life.  

Child #1 is getting her PhD from Purdue, so we'll be off to Indiana to see her (and her hubbie and our new grandson). Child #2 may show his lovely face in Indiana, which would be wonderful. He lives in Kansas now, but always seems to be en route somewhere.  And if all goes well, we'll see #3 who is playing baseball for a minor league team in Traverse City, Michigan.

The new book is expected to be released in August 2017. More about that later!

Questions from kids...

I'm catching my breath after two full weeks of residencies for the South Dakota Arts Council. 

The first week of October, I worked with second graders at Lincoln Elementary School in Aberdeen, South Dakota.  (These kids can write!)  Last week, I commuted back and forth from home to St. Mary's Elementary in Salem, South Dakota, where I had another great week.

You never know what to expect though.  I always tell kids they can ask me whatever they want.  Well, yesterday morning I pulled out a batch of questions that the kids had written to me.  On the first crumpled piece of paper was this question:  "Have you ever had lice?"  The second question:  "Do you like CHLOROX?" 

Yep, fifteen years of author visits and the questions continue to amaze me. 

Tomorrow, I drive to Ipswich, South Dakota (about 30 miles west of Aberdeen) for another week in the schools. 

Trying again

Here's the cell phone photo I was trying to upload below.  You can see the blue sky to the left and of course, the rainbow, looking as if it had been hurled to earth.  My favorite part about the pic is the bright stripe of fields on the horizon to the right.  (I wish I could say I planned it!)

Enough for now.  I have three classes of 2nd graders tomorrow, followed by a class of first graders.  Should be fun!

Back again!

After a long break, I'm back at the blog!

As we speak, I'm in Aberdeen, South Dakota, preparing for a week at Lincoln Elementary School as an artist-in-residence.  Don't get your hopes up -- I haven't turned into an illustrator!  Rather, I'm a "literary artist," showing kids what authors really do. 

Even that's kind of funny -- I can just imagine myself sitting in front of the classroom staring at my computer screen, typing away!

In all seriousness, I'll be showing them that writing involves more than just the pencil on paper or the hands on the keyboard.  Much of it has to do with movement and observation.  (More on that tomorrow.)

In the meantime, here's a photo of a rainbow that I took with my cell phone about 6:00 this evening, somewhere north of Plankinton on Hwy 281.  (Don't worry, I pulled off the road!)

I'm thankful for the decent weather.  In a few more weeks, we could be looking at sundogs instead! 

 

Waiting...waiting...waiting

I'm waiting!

If everything is on schedule, my new book, Four Famous Faces, will be published this month.

It's kind of like giving birth. (Well, not really!)  But there are similarities.  I guess the big thing is that I never know what the book is actually going to look like until it arrives. 

But here's what I do know: Renee Graef is the illustrator. 

And if you've ever seen anything that Renee has done, you know that she is outstanding. 

She's the illustrator for the Kirsten books of the American Girl series and also the Little House picture books published by HarperCollins. She also illustrated my first book for the Mount Rushmore History Association, Who Carved the Mountain? The Story of Mount Rushmore. 

I've seen the cover of Four Famous Faces, but I'm still waiting to count fingers and toes!

Coming soon... Four Famous Faces!

Four Famous Faces will be relased in May!