catching up with some school visits: Augusta Baker's Dozen Storytelling Celebration

And then, back in April, I was in Columbia, SC where southern hospitality was on display the moment I stepped in to my hotel room:

  

Hey, notice what that basket is on?

Yes, that was me and my work on wall those posters and postcards and magazine covers:

Because, I was featured author for  the Augusta Baker's Dozen: A Celebration of Stories, an amazing program in its 29th year. 

oh, did I mention, they also made buttons?

My favorite part of the program is that on one of the days, they bus in 4th graders from surrounding schools for a storytelling speed date! 

Dozens of storytellers set up around the garden of a historic home and students, broken up into groups, go from one storyteller to the next for ten minute each (they hear from three different storytellers in total).

It's really amazing!  

By the end, the kids are clamoring to tell their own stories--even telling them to each other as they walk to the bus.

But that was only part of the program. The other part was centered around the work of yours truly!

I thought this fish pond was a very creative idea!

kids decorated their own fish to put in the pond

And there were lots of dragons:

drawn dragons! 

this one was created by kid-painted paper plates and streamers

this was made out of kids' handprints

hand prints decorated to make the scales

this one was hung so high that I'm not sure how they made it!

even origami dragons!

And speaking of origami, there were lots of paper crafts like:

lanterns!

and fortune cookies!

There was even a puppet show featuring my books (I'm hoping to get the script and make it available on my website for anyone interested): 

dancing dim sum!

Dragon and Pacy!

Pacy's family!

After all this effort, I was relieved that a good crowd came to my talk:

 

I think it was a great event, though I really can't take too much credit for it. The kudos really go to all the hard-working librarians, administrators, volunteers! 

A few of the many people responsible for this awesome event! 

Thanks so much, Richland Library!

catching up with some school visits: One Book, One Read in TX!

Another great visit I don't want to forget was in Houston, TX, where two schools chose Where the Mountain Meets the Moon as their One Book, One School Read title.  

Can I tell you how much I LOVE when schools do this? It's my absolute favorite thing when a whole school reads my book. I admit I get a bit disheartened when Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is pigeon-holed as "ethnic," but when it's used for programs such as these my faith is restored.  

Because, I truly believe that my books are for everyone and anyone can enjoy them, not just for those that look like me. And when my book is chosen for a program such as this, I get to to see and really know that all the kinds of students--boys and girls of ALL races--- enjoy my book and it's wonderful. It's the difference between believing and knowing. 

And these schools were awesome!  First there was the welcome:

isn't that so sweet?

One school had t-shirts of the book made:

I'm holding a special origami book that these students made me, all decorated with compliments about the book!

And then there were the projects:

 

Each student made their family connected together by a red string!

bulletin boards that showed everyone reading the book and where they read it!

And students re-illustrated the cover of the book (I'm only showing two that I picked randomly--there were so many!):

 

 

And because it was a school-wide read, the school made discussion questions to help the students follow along (by the way, I'm planning to have a copy of their discussion guides available online at my website in the future, in case other schools would like it as a resource).  I have to admit, I loved seeing how the youngest grades answer!

I think this is a first grader's! All the answers are quite correct! 

I am told this is a kindergartner's! I am impressed!

It was such an honor for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon to be chosen for these schools' One Book, One School Read programs! Thank you so much, Harvard and Travis Elementary!

catching up with some school visits: Chinese New Year Celebration!

So, while I was taking a hiatus from this blog, I was still traveling and visiting schools. There were so many amazing ones that I feel obligated to share about them, even though it is rather belated.

For example, all the way back in February, I celebrated the Lunar New Year like this:

First, Chinese Spring Greetings met me at the door:

And I did my thing with some cute students, seeing different age levels a time:

look how short my hair was! I haven't gone for a haircut since it was first cut because of the novel. You know how athletes sometimes have "playoff beards?" I have finish-the-novel hair. 

But after I finished, ALL the students started to stream in--each holding special projects they had done inspired by my books:

I thought this was especially clever--a dragon noisemaker!

 Students made dragons out of paper cups and then taped streamers to one end and cut a hole in the other. When they shouted in the hole of the cup, the streamer flew out.

Chinese rattle drums!

paper lanterns

And why were the all there? Why to see the dragon, of course:

each student made their part of the dragon!

It was an awesome dragon parade!

 

And a great way to start the Lunar New Year!

catching up with the garden

We started the garden so early this spring that Rain Dragon was still bundled up when we planted the seeds:

So, for what seemed a long time, we seemed to have more of a windspinner garden than anything else:

But, finally, things began to sprout:

And now, they are starting to grow:

strawberry ducks

Hello all! Since I am awaiting revision comments, I have returned to the blog! Yay! Of course, I might have to disappear again once I start revising, but in the meantime...let me tell you about strawberry ducks:

I made these for Rain Dragon's pre-school birthday celebration. The school discourages excess sweets, so these seems like a good way to make the day special. They are super easy to make as well as super cute! All  you need are:

a melon ball spoon

strawberries

a couple apples

lemon juice

tiny round sprinkles

heart shapes sprinkles (I couldn't find any so I used star shaped ones and had to make them triangular)

and this video:

They called them "Strawberry men" but Rain Dragon insisted that our were ducks. 

They used chocolate for the eyes, but I used sprinkles because I was too lazy to melt chocolate, etc. If I were to do it again, I'd use tweezers to put in the sprinkle eyes because my damp hands made some of the color of the sprinkles run. And I cut off the bottoms to make sure they all sat up, too. So the ones in the video are much cuter!

but mine are still cute, though, right?

But, they were eaten all up so I guess Rain Dragon and her friend didn't mind!

writing retreat

Hello! Remember me?

I am relieved to say that the first draft of my novel is now with my editor! Yes, the first step in the long publishing process has begun, but "Every journey must begin with a first step," is how the Chinese proverb goes, right?

But getting to that first step was pretty hard! After missing, um, three years of deadlines I was finally determined to make this last one. However, as I was nearing the end,  I needed huge, extended chunks of uninterrupted time and that is something I can't get at home, so I was starting to feel a bit desperate.

And that is where my good friend and fellow author Libby Koponen stepped in. Offering me her spare room in her place by the sea (very apropos for my book),  we created our own two-person writing retreat.

the view from my borrowed writing desk!

Libby was a fabulous hostess (as she always is):

Fresh tea every couple of hours and a pajama dress code!

And we both got a lot of writing done! I worked from the wee hours of the morning to the wee hours at night--I slept less than when Rain Dragon was a baby! But, (as you know, but I must repeat it because I am a bit disbelieving) I finished my first draft!

I watched the sun rise!

It went so well that we are talking about running real writing retreats, offering it to other authors besides ourselves. I think it would be great, don't you?

But in the meantime, I am just thankful that I had this one!

two writers in our work uniforms!

and this is three!

So, the novel took a back seat this weekend so that we could decorate the yard like this:

Because it was Rain Dragon's birthday!

We had another birthday red hunt, this time making sure all the eggs were red so that the connection to the Chinese tradition was a little more direct (in Chinese tradition, red eggs are used to celebrate a child's birthday--the red egg hunt is our own personal take one it!). Even so, it was not very traditional--but the Rain Dragon's friends didn't seem to mind.

The hardest part was holding back the crowd:

On your mark, get set, GO!

The yard was in much better shape this year and the weather was cooperative, so I think it  was a successful hunt!

at least it was for Rain Dragon:

Also, this year instead of trying to do the cake last minute, we assembled it with pre-made fondant decorations and turned everyone's mouth's blue:

Rain Dragon loves planets and ducks!

which might have been what Rain Dragon wished for:

 

Happy 3rd Birthday, Rain Dragon! 

nose to the grindstone

revising the first draft of the new novel!!

Recently, I've come up for air to attend events like the Virginia Hamilton Conference and the Richland Library's Augusta Baker's Dozen Storytelling Celebration. It's been great (thank you to all the came! So fun to meet all of you!) but it's back to work I go! I miss writing regularly here at my blog, but I hope to be back soon! I'm on the first revision on the first draft of the new novel, which would be exciting except that I usually go through at least five of these, so there's still have far to go. Right now, the tentative title is "The Silver Waves of the Sea." What do you think?

In the meantime, I'm still going to be using my newsletter as my main source of outgoing news, so please sign up! That's where you'll first hear all about the novel when it's finally finished!

Happy Lunar New Year!

Best Wishes to you from me, for the Year of the Sheep!

Happy Lunar New Year! Winter Edition of my Newsletter

Learn a bit about the Year of the Sheep in my newsletter!

The Winter and Lunar New Year edition of my newsletter is now out! Learn a little bit about the Year of the Sheep, get a sneak peak at my new novel, and more! And if you want to be eligible for the free book giveaways, please sign up!  As I said earlier, the newsletter will be my main outgoing source for now, so it would be great to have you onboard to keep in touch!