So excited to see that my book, The Night Before Kindergarten, is now available as a gift set! There’s a first 100 days of school calendar, watercolors, stickers and of course the book. You can pre-order here so that your little ones getting ready to go to Kindergarten will have the summer to get ready in a fun way.
http://epresence.psdschools.org/1/watch/1478.aspx
Fort Collins authors, Teresa Funke and Natasha Wing, are interviewed about their books and writing process.
Today National Children’s Book Week begins. Please help us celebrate by reading a picture book a day or gifting a book to a special child in your life.
Tomorrow night, 25,000 volunteers will be going out to 6,000 towns and cities across America to hand out free books in the name of spreading the love of reading, person to person. This is the second year of World Book Night U.S. and it so fittingly falls on Shakespeare’s birthday.
The idea of World Book Night is to encourage light to non-readers to read more by literally putting a book in their hands. I’ll be in Old Town Fort Collins looking for teenage boys and girls to give them a copy of Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.
Any time I can inspire a child or teen to read, I feel good knowing that a brain has been woken up to the written word, and that a spark may be ignited for the quest more knowledge. As an author, it’s my obligation to create new readers. Thank you World Book Night – and local book distributor Old Firehouse Books – for providing a simple way for me to participate in the literacy movement.
If you’re a school with little to no budget for bringing in an author, don’t forget about grants!
There’s one offered through the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators that will pay for an author to come in plus provide extra money for books. It’s the Amber Brown Grant set up in honor of Paula Danzinger whose famous character was Amber Brown.
The deadline is April 1st for this year. You can also submit again in the fall from November 1-April 1. It’s an easy application to fill out. Here’s the link: GRANT
Dr. Seuss’s birthday is this Friday and schools are celebrating it with a national Read Across America Day. Also next week on March 6th is Read Aloud Day. So I have been getting many requests for Skype visits from all over the country – and one in Canada – to beam into classrooms and share a story.
I love that this technology exists since it connects students with an author even when there is no budget to bring an author in for a live presentation. I also love the casualness of our visit, and that kids are more comfortable asking questions in a small classroom setting.
So thank you, teachers, librarians and media specialists, for thinking of me and inviting me into your schools. By the responses, it sounds like the kids are enjoying it to!
Here’s an email from a Library Media Paraprofessional from Crown Point, Indiana:
Mrs. Wing,
I cannot tell you how much our students enjoyed visiting with you this afternoon (they have not stopped talking about it!). I can only imagine the stories they will tell their parents tonight! It was a real pleasure for me to meet you too! Thank you not only for your time, but creating such a wonderful and lasting memory. I hope we can do it again next year!
With thanks and gratitude.
If you are interested in a Skype visit, please contact me through the comment area below. I do free 20-minute Skypes to classrooms and for in-depth visits lasting 30-45 minutes I charge a nominal fee of $25 through the remainder of this school year. I can also arrange for signed books delivered to your school.
I’m looking forward to sharing my writing life with your students!
