Cynthia Lord's Blog, page 101

Happy Thanksgiving!

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.~Thornton Wilder


Gunn Brook, Greenfield, Massachusetts. Photo by my husband, John  
 
Thank you all for being among my treasures. 

It's a Dog's Life

Not the GROOMER!  I like the Puppy Einstein look.

Today is full of driving here and there: taking Milo to the groomer, going to the printer, picking up some books I need to sign, and finally, my favorite part of the day comes last--picking up my daughter at college and bringing her home for Thanksgiving.

I told Milo, "The first part of your day is going to be rough for you. But the last part?  That will more than make up for it." 

My Cybils Reading

Deerfield, Massachusetts. Photo by my husband, John

I've read dozens of books this month.  Before anyone is impressed, I have to admit that all the books were less than 120 pages. I'm a judge in the Easy Reader and Short Chapter Book categories of the Cybil Awards.

We have 59 books to read across our two lists.  From those, we'll choose 5 easy readers and 5 short chapter books.  It's been great fun, and I only have about 15 more books to hunt down and read.

To keep up with my reading, I've brought a few chapter books on each of my travels. I've enjoyed seeing the surprise and smiles from strangers as I've sat at my airport gates reading Ivy and Bean or Bink and Gollie or The Middle Sheep or The Night Fairy. 

On my recent trip to Kentucky, I had a sweet conversation with the man sitting next to me on the plane.  He had been deer hunting in Maine and was flying back to Indiana.  He smiled at the book I was reading and asked if I were a teacher. 

"I'm a children' book author," I said. "I'm off to Kentucky to speak at a school."  

"Is that your book?" He gestured to Anna Hibiscus in my hands. 

I laughed. "No, I wish it were!  It's really good."

He told me his wife is a public librarian and asked me to write down my name so he could tell her who he had sat with--and the name of the book so he could tell her about it. 

We ended up talking for the whole flight. 



From the publisher:  Anna Hibiscus lives in amazing Africa with her mother, her father, her baby twin brothers, and lots and lots of her family. Join her as she splashes in the sea, prepares for a party, sells oranges, and hopes to see sweet, sweet snow!

About the author:  Atinuke is a Nigerian storyteller. She draws upon her recent ancestry from Yoruba land, England and Wales, and more ancient origins of Spain, Portugal and China, to tell stories from both the world of folktales and contemporary life. She lives in Wales with her husband and two sons. Anna Hibiscus is her first title for Walker Books.

What I love about this book:  The mixed-culture family (the dad is African, the mom is Canadian--we're grounded with the information that they met at college), the beautiful language that is spare enough to work well for early readers' skill levels, but also rises above function to beauty.  It's a dynamic mix of exotic and very familiar as Anna navigates her family and community experiences.  As a former teacher, I love that the story takes students somewhere new in such a  loving way. And yet, there is also much to talk about. The stories are not only sweet and warm, they bring up issues of culture and class in a thoughtful way.

As a writer, I admire that there is depth here. So hard to achieve and so preciously rare in a book so short. 

It's a Book Baby!

 Congratulations! It's a bouncing book-baby!

Name: Holler Loudly

Date of Birth: November 19, 2010

Weight: 32 pages

Proud Parent: Cynthia Leitich Smith illustrated by Barry Gott

Godparents: Dutton

Catching Up

In Touch Blue, the father has a cup of coffee with the other lobstermen every morning to hear the gossip/news before he heads out to haul.  He calls it his "catching-up cup."  I feel like that this morning--I'm catching up with lots of people as I sit here with my coffee.  Though I'm catching up electronically. 

The mood of this photo is just right for this morning for me.


Munjoy Hill, Portland, Maine. Photo by my husband, John

Making New Friends at Friends Academy

 Yesterday I spent the day at Friends Academy, a private P-8 school in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts.  Isn't this a beautiful place?  The oldest part is a former mansion that the school bought in the 1950s.  Inside, it has gorgeous woodwork, big windows, and old creaky wooden floors that  "sing" when you walk on them. 

  This is the conference room, where where I had lunch with the two other authors who participated in the school's annual AuthorFest event.

Eric Kraft is an author/illustrator and Steven Krasner is a sports writer, so we were a good mix for the students.  It was fun getting to know them both!  Eric was there to speak with the second through fourth graders, Steve came for the middle school, and I was scheduled to speak to the fifth grade, preschool, kindergarten and first grade students. 

  I was greeted in the library by this wonderful banner the kindergartners had made for me. What a fun welcome!  

Rules is one of the fifth grade's required summer reading books. So in my first session, I spoke to the fifth graders

 and they presented me with a beautiful book full their thoughts and art around Rules and Touch Blue. 

They had such good questions that we went a little over my scheduled time. So in the space of 3 minutes (!), I shifted gears to read and talk about Hot Rod Hamster with the preschoolers.  It's great to have such different audiences, though.  It keeps it all fresh for me.   

I was there with the New England Scholastic Book Fairs, so there were lots of books to sign. It's always humbling and lovely to walk into a signing and see a long line of kids and parents waiting for you. 

Thanks Friends Academy for a wonderful day! 

And now, I have almost a week off--which will be good for me. I haven't bought any of my groceries for Thanksgiving yet!  At this point I hope I can still get everything I need.  

I once had a nightmare that I forgot it was Thanksgiving and had to serve Kraft Macaroni and Cheese to my family, because it was all we had in the cupboard.  I don't think it'll be quite that bad, but I'll be glad to start my shopping today! 

Vroom-Vroom

Tomorrow I'll be spending the day at a school in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts with the New England Scholastic Book Fairs. I'm presenting Rules to the fifth grade and Hot Rod Hamster to the preschoolers, kindergarteners, and first graders. 

It's been a little while since I've done preschool and kindergarten presentations, so today was the perfect day for me to open a thank you note from Cliff Island School in Maine. 

Last month, I did a video conference for Touch Blue with the students in five small Maine island schools. During Q&A, one of the kids had asked me about my other books, so we showed them the cover of Hot Rod Hamster. There was such a delightful gasp from all those kids that I sent each island school a copy of Hot Rod Hamster when I got back home. 

Cliff Island has a one-room school--and even the island preschoolers weighed in.  Here are a few lines from their notes to me:



I love when you get to pick what you like the most! --Eliza

Thank you, Cynthia Lord for the book Hot Rod Hamster. It was a big hit at my school. --Olivia

Mr. Holloway read it to us the day we got it. --Julian

It took a little while to choose which one we would take.--Elwen


Quotes from the preschoolers:

"Hot Rod Hamster was the coolest book of all!"--Aiden, age 4

That hamster was super cool and the hot rod he picked was awesome!" --Sofie, age 4

"Can you read it again, please?" --Kai, age 3


And here's a photo from the school's blog of the day we did our video conference together for Touch Blue.


On the screen are the kids from Matinicus, Isle au Haut, Frenchboro (and me!), and Monhegan Islands

Thank you, Burns Middle School!

I had a lovely visit to Northern Kentucky, where the kids all call me "Cynthia Lord, Ma'am." 



The staff and students at Burns Middle School in Owensboro were so gracious and warm and friendly to me. I was greeted by Joanne Berry, the media specialist, at baggage claim and since this was my first trip to Kentucky, she kindly took me on a few scenic tours to show me the area. I saw rolling fields, a fiery sunset over the Ohio River, a shoe hospital (with a drive through!), and lots of historic architecture. 

  



At my hotel, there was a basket full of Kentucky goodies.



At school, there was a beautiful banner as I stepped through the front door and the hallways were full of rules and word cards.

  

I always love seeing the words kids choose!  Sometimes they surprise me:

  

Sometimes they touch me:



Sometimes they make me smile:



Or laugh:



Or nod, because they've chosen a word you would really need. 



And I always love when the kids want to give Jason from RULES *their* words:

  





RULES was Burns' "One Book/One School" read, so all 800+ kids had read it. That always makes for good assemblies and great questions. I did two assemblies, had a fabulous lunch in the library with some kids and staff, and I did an evening presentation for the community. 

Now, the FOOD!  Oh my. Let's start with lunch in the library (which included banana cream and chocolate cream pies!)



Wow!  I usually avoid sugar and dairy on my school visit days, because they can cause small issues for speakers. But I couldn't resist this time! 

Joanne also took me out for supper both nights. The first night, I laughed to see a dish called "Road Kill" on the menu.  It was really chopped steak, but I loved telling my family I had "Road Kill and Sweet Tea."  It was very good! 

The next night we went to a fabulous place where I tried sorghum syrup for the first time and had something Owensboro is famous for: barbecue.


An area of the middle school library.  It even has an electric fireplace that was lit.  What a restful, pretty place to read in the middle of a busy school. 

It was lovely and delicious trip. Thank you so much to the students and staff at Burns Middle School for your attention (even in the midst of challenges!), your enthusiasm, your welcoming smiles and polite Ma'ams, and for sharing your world and your words with me. 

Beading to Beat Autism

From the website for Burns Middle School in Owensboro, Kentucky where I am speaking to all 830 students today.

Burns Middle School is participating in a school-wide literacy program in which all students and staff read the same book at the same time each day.This year’s book, Rules, by Cynthia Lord was chosen by a committee of students, teachers and parents. The book explores the themes of friendship, honesty, and acceptance and diversity while helping the students gain greater understanding of autism.
As a service project, our students will be raising money for the Michala Riggle Beat Autism Foundation, whose mission is to raise funds to build a comprehensive autism research and treatment facility in Louisville, Kentucky.  The Burns Middle School Spirit Club will be “Beading to Beat Autism,” a project in which they will be making beaded bracelets in school colors to sell to our students. In addition, half of the proceeds from the Burns Middle Lady Foxes Basketball game at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 15 will be donated to the foundation.
 

As a mom of a son with autism, this really moves me.  This foundation was started by a 12-year-old girl who has a brother with autism.  She started making and selling bracelets to raise money for autism.  Her story is here.  

I haven't even met the kids at Burns Middle School yet, but I'm already proud of them. When I checked into my hotel, there was a basket of Kentucky goodies, and a bracelet for me, too.

I already have it on.

Hello from Kentucky

From the website for Burns Middle School in Owensboro, Kentucky where I am speaking today to 830 students.

Burns Middle School is participating in a school-wide literacy program in which all students and staff read the same book at the same time each day.This year’s book, Rules, by Cynthia Lord was chosen by a committee of students, teachers and parents. The book explores the themes of friendship, honesty, and acceptance and diversity while helping the students gain greater understanding of autism.
As a service project, our students will be raising money for the Michala Riggle Beat Autism Foundation, whose mission is to raise funds to build a comprehensive autism research and treatment facility in Louisville, Kentucky.  The Burns Middle School Spirit Club will be “Beading to Beat Autism,” a project in which they will be making beaded bracelets in school colors to sell to our students. In addition, half of the proceeds from the Burns Middle Lady Foxes Basketball game at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 15 will be donated to the foundation.
 

As a mom of a son with autism, this really moves me.  This foundation was started by a 12-year-old girl who has a brother with autism.  She started making and selling bracelets to raise money for autism.  Her story is here.  

I haven't even met the kids at Burns Middle School, but I'm already really proud of them. When I checked into my hotel, there was a basket of Kentucky goodies, and a bracelet for me, too.

I already have it on.