Cynthia Lord's Blog, page 88

Thank you, Biddeford Intermediate School

  I'm having a wonderful time at Biddeford Intermediate School.  I'm here for three days, and what a welcome they gave me!

My own parking space--right next to the principal!



And then all the kids and teachers lined the walkway to the front door to greet me. I walked between the rows of all those kids clapping and welcoming me.  It was amazing! 

Here they are, lining up to greet me.


"I feel like I'm the Queen visiting in 'Upstairs, Downstairs,' I joked with Susan, my host. 

I spoke first at the middle school to all the students in grades 4-7 on Rules, and then I've been at the Intermediate School for their all-school read of Touch Blue. 

The kids have done such thoughtful and fun projects, including these cereal boxes. On the sides they list the "ingredients" of the story, etc.  I loved them!



 

 

 

And how cute are these lobster cookies?



Tonight, we have a book signing with an ice cream social!  Could this GET any better?!

One Book/One School/One Library

I'm spending the next three days with these great kids and their teachers.  They're all from the Biddeford Intermediate School and Touch Blue was their all-school read.  I'm excited to meet every one of them! 

Milo Gets a Haircut: From Yak to Yikes!

   There's a choice page in Happy Birthday Hamster where Hamster and Dog go to the groomer's for new, party hairdos.

Curly fur, straight fur, awesome, groovy-great fur.
Striped fur, white fur, looking quite a sight fur!
Which would you choose?

Hmmm.  I'm not sure which one Milo picked! 

BEFORE:

 AFTER:



It's good, though.  He's a busy pup, and I swear his fur acts like a Swifter!  It picks up everything as he runs by! :-)

Happy Easter!

Photo by my husband, John

Boothbay Blue

Yesterday, my husband and I spent a beautiful afternoon in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. John has a photo in a gallery show in Boothbay right now, so we went to see it and spend some time there, just us.  It was a gorgeous day in a stunning place.

   I loved this sign.  It sounds like it's a cultural center for those creative and artistic phytoplankton. :-)

Spring in New England comes so slowly.  But yesterday, all around me, I saw it had come.  The birds, the little green shoots and flowers, the lobster buoys in the bay.



"Spring snuck up on me while I was complaining about it," I joked with John. 



Most people think of spring as green.  But it's also blue on blue on blue. 

Five Things on a Friday

Coast of Maine, Photo by my husband, John

1.  My husband put together a raised bed in front of my writing house. It's sitting out there, full of soil, waiting.  But I can't risk planting anything in it until the latter part of May. Until then, we can still get a frost in Maine.  It's killing me, though!    


2.  Hot Rod Hamster's at the Indy 500!  The Indianapolis Motor Speedway's official online store sells. . . HOT ROD HAMSTER!  How fun it is to see our little hamster mixed in with all that serious-looking race merchandise!   The items are in alphabetical order, so scroll down to H and Hamster is rubbing elbows with Helio Castroneves.

(And thank you to my husband, because he made a postcard last summer with book information and sent it to racetracks across the country)


3.  Speaking of the Fast and Furriest One, I drafted a new Hamster book yesterday.  Kids often ask me if I still get rejections.  "Absolutely!"  is the answer.  My editor liked it, though, so here we go again! 


4.  I accepted a book festival request for next September in Ontario.  I haven't been to Canada since my children were born, and I've never been to Ontario.  So yay! 


5.  My daughter was home this week for college break.  What a treat to have her here!  She's getting ready for a trip to the Virgin Islands for a class.  She's going to collect data on fish.  Very cool!  Er, well, probably it'll be hot there.  But you know what I mean :-)

The Abominable Snowman

captured on film for the first time. 


What?

Wordless Wednesday

Southport, Maine. Photo by my husband, John

Holderness Central School

Mt. Chocorua

What a nice day I had at Holderness Central School. The Lakes Region is such a beautiful part of New Hampshire: full of lakes, mountains, farms, old stone walls, forests, and winding roads. 



Oh, the traffic.



I loved being there. Holderness Central School is a small, rural, K-8 school of about 200 students, and they were fabulous!  I felt welcomed as soon as I stepped through the front door.  



And I smiled at this poster:


She grew up in New Hampshire beside a lake!!!  Just like us! 

Yes, I did! 

Stephanie, the media specialist, had done an amazing job preparing the kids for my visit. The hallways and library walls were full of art and fun things, like this race track!



And these lobster buoys decorated the computer room where I spoke.



The kids asked thoughtful questions, and the K-2 group made me laugh several times.  One particularly sweet moment came when I was showing a couple photos of Derek Anderson.  I always show a photo of Derek and Little Quack, and then I say, "And here's Derek Anderson drawing Hot Rod Hamster!" I click my remote and this photo appears. 



There was a cute little gasp from the kids, and then a tiny voice yelled out, "Wow. He's GOOD!" 

Sometimes kids make everything fresh again. I don't know how many times I've given this Hot Rod Hamster presentation, but it's close to a hundred times.  And in that moment, it was like seeing the art for the first time all over again.  "Yes, he IS!" I said.

It was a fun and lovely day. As Hamster would say. . .



THANK YOU!

Hello from the Granite State

I'm in Holderness, New Hampshire doing a visit today with all the K-8 students at Holderness Central School.  When Stephanie, the media specialist, asked me to come, she said It's not always easy to find authors who can span K-8--and that IS a big span.  But it'll be fun:  I'll do Hot Rod Hamster with K-2, Touch Blue with 3-4, and Rules with 5-8th. 

Holderness is in a beautiful part of New Hampshire, just south of the White Mountains.  This is Squam Lake, the setting for the movie, "On Golden Pond."



Stephanie is also author Jo Knowles sister!  Jo and I have been friends for a long time, and they gave me a wonderful surprise last night at supper!  Jo and her mom came, too!



Hooray!