Yoohoo Boats!

Love that students from a school in Oconee County, Georgia, made Yoohoo boats after reading The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis.

Leroy Ninker Saddles Up

I've never read Kate DiCamillo's Mercy Watson books.

I mean, so many books, so little time, and all that.

But I've made no secret of my love of her writing.

And now I've just finished Leroy Ninker Saddles Up (a spin-off of the Mercy Watson series).

I fell in love with that little cowboy dude and his trusty horse, Maybelline.

I mean, that Kate is all about VOICE.

I finally quit highlighting because, what's the use....it's all so dang good.

But here are a few of my faves:

I hope he is a fast horse, he thought. And I hope that he is strong. I will call him Tornado. Leroy found this name so pleasing he had to stop walking and hold himself very still and properly consider the glory of the word.

Patty LeMarque helped Leroy Ninker up on Maybelline's back, and right away Leroy Ninker noticed that the world was different from the top of a horse. The colors were deeper. The sun shone brighter. The birds sang more sweetly.

You got to listen in this world, Hank. You got to pay attention to the informational bits that people share with you.

This is the worst night of my life, thought Leroy. If there is anything worse than being a cowboy without a horse, it is being a cowboy who had a horse and then lost her.

Okay, I'll stop there.

You get the point.

I loved this little book.

Author Visits

I've fallen off the blogging wagon for a bit for lots of good reasons (two of which are writing and summer).

But I'm trying to ease back into the swing of things. (Emphasis on the word "ease.")

I refuse to say the F word on this family-friendly blog.

Oh, what the heck....

....I'll say it:

FALL

Sorry.

Somebody had to say it.

It will be here in a blink.

So I know many authors and schools are thinking about author visits again.

I thought I'd resurrect some blog posts I wrote a while back (um, five years ago? Yikes) with advice for authors and schools.

The first four are aimed at authors but schools might find something useful in them, too.

The last one is for schools.

Advice from the Trenches - Part 1  

Advice from the Trenches - Part 2  

Advice from the Trenches - Part 3

Advice from the Trenches - Part 4

Advice from the Trenches for Schools

Hello Revision, My Old Friend

....I've come to talk with you again.

[cue music of The Sound of Silence here in case you're confused.]

Hooray!!!

So much more fun to look at a page with words vs a blank page!

*Dives in head first*