Kate Messner's Blog, page 54

Happy Independence Day!

From Bobby Kennedy's grave site at Arlington National Cemetery

Birthday Critters

My 13-year-old son just gave me one of my favorite birthday presents ever.

No fancy perfume for this mom.  I got...



Ever the practical kid, J ordered these because I've been lamenting the fact that bugs are eating my roses.  Not any more.  Within a few weeks, the literature says,  this egg case will hatch "about 100-200 tiny mantises, all at once."  I especially love the way Gardeners Supply Company describes the praying mantises' promise to wreak havoc on garden pests. 

"Being strictly carnivoro

Retreating

There is something about being in a house full of creative people.  People who totally get that stories are important and that characters are real. And whether the house is full of raucous conversation or the quiet of fingers on keyboards, there is something magical about the energy that buzzes around.  I'm on retreat with a bunch of writer friends through tomorrow and am so very, very thankful for that.

Rainbow Dangling from a Cloud

It's been beautiful and sunny here the past two days, so I didn't expect to see this when I looked out at Lake Champlain tonight.



The showers that moved into Vermont this afternoon left us dry but with a stunning view.

*This post made with sincere apologies to jbknowles  in rainy Maine...

More Thoughts on Summer Reading

Earlier this week, I posted a blog entry called In Defense of Summer Reading, and I love the conversation it's sparked. Some more thoughts:

Author cindachima  shares her thoughts on this topic in a post today, The Guiltless Pleasure of Summer Reading.

My friend stephanielight  , a future librarian finishing up her graduate work right now, writes:

Kids have personalized visits with their guidance counselor, with the school nurse, etc. Why not with the librarian? At the beginning of the year, when a

In Defense of Summer Reading Freedom

I am a huge fan of reading.  And a huge fan of summer.

But I am not a fan of Summer Reading Requirements for kids.

That's not to say I don't think kids should read in the summer time.  I do.  At my house, you'll find us all settling in with our books & sweaty glasses of iced lemonade at about the same time every afternoon.  So if that's your idea of a summer reading program, then forget what I said about not being a fan.  It's that other kind of Summer Reading I'm talking about.  The kind with c

Twitter, Teaching, & Totalitarianism

I've always been a fan of technology and its potential to help people learn and collaborate.  I've been thinking for a while about social networking and education, and how it's probably not such a great idea for schools to simply block sites like Facebook & Twitter and pretend they don't exist, rather than teaching kids how to use them responsibly.  I'm hoping to do some collective tweeting with my classes in the fall as a way to model effective, responsible use of social media.  I've been on Tw

Champlain Quadricentennial Book Club at LCMM

I had a fantastic experience at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum this weekend.  Museum Educator Sarah Lyman emailed me a few months ago with an invitation.  Would I like to participate in a book club for Champlain and the Silent One hosted at the museum?  Kids would read the book along with their parents, then come to the museum on the weekend of the Native American Encampment to talk about it and learn more about what Silent One's life might have been like.  Would I be interested in participa

Five Things on a Friday

1. I'm Skyping with a before-school book club in Vermont this morning!  Five avid fifth grade readers are meeting me on the computer in a little while to talk about THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z.  They read the ARC to help me with a special project, and I'm looking forward to our chat.  

2. Gianna Z has her own Facebook page now.  Won't you stop by and be her friend?

3. One of my FB and real life friends, author Mitali Perkins, has a fascinating discussion about race and class in THE HUNGER GAMES

This is why I write.

This colorful collection of homemade cards arrived in the mail today, from some kids whose school I visited a few weeks ago.  The artwork they created in response to my two Lake Champlain historical novels is gorgeous, and their letters made me smile over and over again.

If you're a writer, you know that certain parts of our amazing job can be tough, particularly the waiting parts.  Waiting for news on a project. Waiting for reviews to come in on a new book.  Waiting to find out if people like it