Laura Resau's Blog, page 3

Book Release Events for THE LIGHTNING QUEEN!

 Hey guys,

I've finalized my schedule of events for this fall for THE LIGHTNING QUEEN.  I'd love to see you guys there!
 COLORADO EVENTSOct 28, 2015, WedTHE LIGHTNING QUEEN Release Party! Everyday Joe’s Coffee House, Old Town, Fort Collins, CO. 5-7 pm. Food, music, Mexican dance, crafts, prizes, reading, signing! Books available to buy there. Come one, come all! Nov 3, 2015, TuesOsher Institute of CSU, Presentation on THE LIGHTNING QUEEN. 10:00 a.m. to noon. Drake Hall (CSU campus), 2545 Research Blvd., Fort Collins, CO 80526. Registration required here. Nov 15, 2015, SundayBoulder Bookstore, Boulder, CO. 4:00 p.m. Reading and signing THE LIGHTNING QUEEN. A joint event with the amazing Melanie Crowder, author of A NEARER MOON. All welcome! Nov 17, 2015, TuesdayEast Morgan County Library, Brush, CO. 6:00 p.m. Presentation on THE LIGHTNING QUEEN. Chatting and signing to follow. Everyone welcome! Nov 21, 2015, SaturdayDenver BookBar, Denver, CO. 12:00-12:30 Signing and chatting about THE LIGHTNING QUEEN. Everyone welcome! (Also, from 10:30-12:00, I’ll be leading a discussion with the Mother-Daughter book club. If you’d like to participate in the book club discussion, call the store asap to register.) Dec. 12, 2015, SaturdayBarnes and Noble, 2999 Pearl St., Boulder, CO. 2 pm. Signing and chatting about THE LIGHTNING QUEEN. All welcome!
 MARYLAND, DC, AND DELAWARE EVENTS Nov 6, 2015, FridayPolitics and Prose Bookstore, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. 20008, 10:30 a.m. Presentation, reading, and signing for THE LIGHTNING QUEEN. All welcome!  Nov 8, 2015, SundayBrowseabouts Bookstore, Rehoboth, Delaware. 11:00 a.m. Informal signing and chatting about THE LIGHTNING QUEEN. All welcome! Nov 9, 2015, MondayThe Children’s Bookstore, Baltimore, MD. 4:00 p.m.  Reading, chatting, and signing THE LIGHTNING QUEEN. Everyone welcome! MINNESOTA Nov 22, 2015, SundayNCTE Conference, Minneapolis. Scholastic Authors’ Breakfast and Readers’ Theatre. Registration required.
Hope you can make it to one of these events!!!
xo,Laura

Camping in My Sweet Lil Fifties Rig! (Part 1)

 

Hello, everyone!

We took my sweet lil rig on her maiden voyage (for us at least)...  Ian and Lil Dude and Wilma and I went to the gorgeous Beaver Meadows in Red Feather Lakes, Colorado for the weekend-- about an hour from home.  We loved it!  Here are some glimpses of our trip:



























 





And on a different note, here's a piece of nice news I recently received-- The Lightning Queen got a beautiful, starred review from School Library Journal this month.  (This is its 2nd starred review!):



★ Gr 3–6—If books were written in black and white, The Lightning Queen would be written in color. Esma, a young Romani girl, meets Teo, a young Mixteco living on the Hill of Dust in the mountains of Mexico, when her traveling caravan makes a stop in Teo's small village. The Romani bring with them the magic of cinema films, and after the loss of Teo's father and sister, Esma gives him a reason to feel alive again. When Esma's grandmother, the Mistress of Destiny, reveals Teo's true fortune—that he and Esma will be lifelong friends and will save each other—Esma and Teo work hard to make sure their fortune comes true. Esma gives Teo the courage to save others and ultimately helps him to save himself. In return, Teo lifts Esma up just when she believes that her own dream is an impossibility. Esma and Teo go their separate ways; she becomes a shining star admired by the world, while he becomes a healer like his grandfather—and it is not until they are both in old age that they meet again. With the help of Teo's grandson Mateo and Esma's granddaughter Ruby, Teo and Esma rekindle their lifelong friendship. Like surviving a lightning strike, this book is rare and incredible.   VERDICT The diverse characters, heartbreaking events, and historical and present-day backdrops are excellently executed. Highly recommended.—Selenia Paz, Helen Hall Library, League City, TX
So grateful for this heartfelt and poetic review!  The book comes out on Oct. 27, and I'll be posting my tour schedule soon.... I'll be doing events in Colorado, D.C, Maryland, and Minneapolis. :-)


Thanks for swinging by, my friends!

xo,
Laura

Camping in My Sweet Lil Fifites Rig! (Part 1)

 

Hello, everyone!

We took my sweet lil rig on her maiden voyage (for us at least)...  Ian and Lil Dude and Wilma and I went to the gorgeous Beaver Meadows in Red Feather Lakes, Colorado for the weekend-- about an hour from home.  We loved it!  Here are some glimpses of our trip:



























 





Thanks for swinging by, my friends!

xo,
Laura

Early Kid Reviews of THE LIGHTNING QUEEN!

with awesome teacher Mrs. McMahon of El Granada Elementary School
Hey guys,

One of my favorite places in the world to visit is Half Moon Bay, California, partly because of the glorious beach....


... but mostly because of the wonderful people there-- teachers, librarians, and kids!

I'm so honored that Mrs. McMahon and her students at El Granada have read most of my books together.  They were excited about my next one, THE LIGHTNING QUEEN, so I sent them a review copy.  I felt thrilled that they managed to squeeze it in as a read-aloud before their school year ended!  The kids were kind enough to jot down their impressions of the book afterward... and here are their blurbs:

Naomi Naito: I love that the hope in Esma's soul is contagious! The spunk and life in Esma is inspirational.  It is amazing how one girl singing can bring back the dead.

Natalie Sencion (whose family is from Oaxaca, and she loves going for visits with them!):The Lightning Queen reminded me of being in Oaxaca: the metate, and hot chocolate, and my favorite, mangoes.
Noely Lopez:The Lightning Queen is a great book for kids. It's hilarious, sad and it makes you have so many more feelings. It makes you wonder and think. It's amazing.

     With cool HMB librarian, Karen
Sinead McVey:It's electrifying... makes me feel like I'm in the story. Really makes me feel for the Gypsies and Mixteco people.
Abby Kennedy: I love how Esma is so fierce, and it's really inspiring.
Jazmin Sofia Zilla:A story of amazing friendship.
Mason McCallister:The Lightning Queen is a fun book that will keep you on the edge of your seat.


     succulents on the beach cliffs

Leia Kenton: I liked that you made Teo a doctor and how you made him help animals.
Mikaela Sendino:The Lightning Queen is very intriguing for all ages and you won't regret reading it.

         with amazing HMB librarian, Armando, outside El Granada Elementary

Viridiana Herrera-Salgado:Laura, I'm glad you became an author because if you didn't, we wouldn't be able to read your wonderful books.
Jake Hessen:I was on the edge of my seat for the whole time.
Victoria Preciado:Great symbolism with the animals and people. Also, great spirit animals.
 

Diego Acosta:Flash [the three-legged skunk] was really like Esma- they both are bright and have problems with legs. And, they cheer me up!
Ethan Gustin:In The Lightning Queen, my favorite part was when Esma dropped the mango on her stepmother's head.


Thank you so much for these magnificent early reviews, kids of Half Moon Bay!  I'm grateful!  I love you guys!  Abrazos to you all!

(And if these reviews have piqued your curiosity about the book, you can read more about it here, and get links to a Book Club Party Guide, a Readers' Guide, and more.)

xo,
Laura

Big-hearted non-profits I support!

from the Reading Village website
Hey guys,

I've been meaning to do this post for a while now!  As you might know, I donate a portion of my royalties to non-profit organizations that support indigenous rights in Latin America.  Over the past nine years, I've donated to a number of awesome groups, all of which have some thematic connection to the people and places in the books I've published.

Here are the fabulous organizations I'm currently donating to, in case you're curious!

Nija' Nu A.C.: Apoyando a Nuestros Abuelos -- I am SO excited I discovered this non-profit (thanks go to my friend in the Mixteca, Melissa Ferrin.)  It's an absolutely perfect fit with my upcoming book, THE LIGHTNING QUEEN, which is framed as a grandfather telling his grandson about his enchanted friendship with a Romani (Gypsy) girl long ago in a Mixteco village. The novel was inspired by stories told to me by my wise Oaxacan healer friend, Maria Chiquita, who lived to age 97.

 photo from the Nija'nu website
Here's the description from their website:

 "Nija’nu" means elders and those who are regarded with respect and honor in Mixteco, one of the many indigenous languages of Mexico. Born out of a small town in the Mixteca region Nija’nu A.C. is a non-profit organization remembering those elders that for various reasons live in poverty with little or no family support.

Nija’nu A.C. works to alleviate immediate needs such as hunger and unsafe living conditions for elders living in Santo Domingo Tonalá and surrounding villages. With a deep commitment to providing elders with a dignified way of life, Nija’nu A.C. provides monthly food aid, specialized healthcare visits, and works toward improving the elders' living spaces. We also help elders with paperwork and applications in order to receive government benefits. We offer social activities, but most importantly provide care and company to our elders.

Isn't this wonderful?  Years ago, I visited several of the villages they work with, and have been blessed with wisdom from many of the elders in those communities!  I'm so happy to have some way to give back...

*******************************

Another amazing organization I donate to is Reading Village, which is a great fit because of the Guatemala connection in RED GLASS and the indigenous literacy triumphs in THE QUEEN OF WATER and THE LIGHTNING QUEEN.  Their work is in impoverished Mayan communities in Guatemala, but they're based in nearby Boulder, CO, which means I've had the joy of meeting some of the hard-working and passionate people in this organization.

photo from Reading Village website
From their website:

Reading Village transforms lives through literacy. Leveraging reading and education as mechanisms to end poverty, we create the conditions for youth to discover their true potential and become agents of change in the world. Through collaboration and innovation, whole communities unleash their power to flourish under their own resources and creativity.  Our mission is to empower youth to eradicate illiteracy and lead their communities out of poverty.

I've been so impressed with the results they've seen with their work-- so many people empowered through education, and in turn, empowering others in their community.

***************

The third non-profit I'm supporting, The Tandana Foundation, works with indigenous communities in Ecuador, which is a great tie-in with THE QUEEN OF WATER and  THE INDIGO NOTEBOOK. I've donated to their scholarship program, but I also love that they facilitate cross-cultural friendships, which is a theme in many of my books, including THE LIGHTNING QUEEN and RED GLASS. I first found out about their work when members of the organization connected with me because they'd been using THE QUEEN OF WATER with their participants!

with scholarship coordinator Veronica on the left, student Susana in the middle, and me on the right
This past winter, on a trip to Ecuador, I was absolutely thrilled to meet with the scholarship student I've been supporting-- Susana, a Quichua woman and mother of several children who is committed to her education despite many obstacles.  She lives in a very remote village in the Andes, and must commute for hours to get to school.  We had lunch together, along with Maria Virginia Farinango (my Quichua co-author of THE QUEEN OF WATER), Anna Taft (founder of the non-profit), and other dedicated people.

This is from their website:

The Tandana Foundation is a non-profit organization that offers intercultural volunteer opportunities, scholarships, and support for small community projects in highland Ecuador and Mali's Dogon Country.  Tandana coordinates volunteer programs that offer visitors to Ecuador or Mali the unique opportunity to be guests rather than tourists, to form intercultural friendships, to experience a rich indigenous culture, and to make a difference in the lives of new friends.  Its scholarship program allows rural Ecuadorian students to continue their secondary and higher education.  Its community projects support villagers in Mali and Ecuador as they realize their dreams of improving their communities. 
Tandana comes from a Kichwa root meaning "to gather together" or "to unite" and represents the spirit of our work.
 with Maria Virginia and toddler Leslie on the left, Anna in the middle, me on the right
*******************

All three of these organizations are 501-C3 non-profits, which means they are tax write-offs.  If you're interested in indigenous rights issues, I encourage you to donate or volunteer, too!

 Thanks for swinging by...

xo,
Laura
 

Gypsy foals frolicking...

 
Hey guys,

Since there's a Romani (Gypsy) girl in my upcoming book THE LIGHTING QUEEN, I had an excuse to do fascinating research on this culture.... including my trip to the Irish Rose Farm on the outskirts of my hometown of Fort Collins, Colorado two summers ago.  Charlie Cox showed me his gorgeous authentic vintage Romani vardos (wagons), which I wrote about in another post.


Over the past couple years, my Lil Dude and I have become friends with Charlie and Jan, who we see at the Farmer's Market every Saturday.  (They are such energetic people!  Jan sells fantastical succulents planted in creative upcycled containers like Minions, old baby doll's heads, vintage Star Wars fighter jets, Lego Darth Vader action figures, 1950s Nancy Drew books....)


So we were excited to hear about their two newborn Gypsy foals, and even more excited when they invited us out to see these impossibly adorable creatures.


 
Charlie and Jan actually breed this kind of horse (Irish Cobs), whose ancestors were used in Ireland to pull Gypsy vardos, and who were also well-loved, gentle members of the caravan. Jan and Charlie are an incredible wealth of information about Romani and Traveler culture in Ireland, and true experts on the Gypsy horses and vardos and dog that they treasure.


These horses are gorgeous and sweet, with distinct black and white patterning and elegant tufts of hair around their ankles. I love their luxurious manes and tails so much!


They lead extremely happy lives on the farm, staying for many months with their mothers, wandering the huge fields with a backdrop of the Rocky Mountains, getting lots of love from Jan and Charlie and their Gypsy dog, Finn.  In Ireland, caravans often included this breed of dog who, like the horses, also were a useful, gentle, and well-loved part of the family.  They are expert hunters, and will go off on their own to fetch rabbits or other small animals to have for dinner. (Finn has proudly brought home rabbits and squirrels.)

So, more about these beautiful foals: The older of the two-- about three weeks old in these photos-- is named Skellig Michael (Skeilig Mhichil in Irish), which is also a rocky island in Ireland.  The 2-week-old girl is named Saoirse (pronounced Searrrsha), which means "freedom" in the Irish language, and has cool political/historical significance in Ireland.

 
Once the babies warmed up to Lil Dude, they enjoyed having him scratch their rump.


I honestly knew very little about horses before our trip to the farm.  The extent of my knowledge was what I'd gleaned from Lil Dude's easy reader books on the topic. ;-)

It's incredible to me that within a few hours of birth, the foals are already walking around... and within a few weeks they're already munching on grasses to supplement their mother's milk.  Supposedly Gypsy mare's milk is incredibly nutrient-rich and makes these foals grow heartier and faster than other horse breeds.


The mothers were so sweet with their babies, but generously let us close enough to touch them. We felt so fortunate!


Before I sign off, I'll give you a quick update on THE LIGHTNING QUEEN.  It's available for preorder now, and will be released on Oct. 27, 2015 in hardcover, ebook... *and audiobook*! So happy about this!


You can read more about the book here and get links to book club and educators' guides.


And if you're on Goodreads, you can add it to your "want-to-read" list here.  Review copies are out in the world now, and I've gotten a bunch of awesome early reviews from a group of elementary school kids in Half Moon Bay, CA! I'll share those blurbs with you in a post soon....


Hope you're having an enchanting summer! 

xo,
Laura

Just another day of research... at the chocolate shop!

 

Hey all,

So I've had the grueling task of researching the goings-ons of a chocolate shop ....

 

I spent a glorious morning at Nuance on Pine Street in Old Town, Fort Collins.  One of the settings in my novel-in-progress is a chocolate shop, and I felt the need to spend some quality time inside of one.  The owners are Alix and Toby, a married couple who put their hearts into running this business.  I was so grateful to Toby, who took time out of his morning (2 and a 1/2 hours!) to enthusiastically answer my many interview questions.



Toby and Alix became enchanted with chocolate-making after a trip to Costa Rica. They started making it in their home kitchen, and soon their equipment had taken over....  Their hobby bloomed into something bigger, and they decided to open a gorgeous chocolate shop!



I thought I'd give you a taste of what I learned...

The cacao pods grow on the tree trunks!
The organically-grown cacao pods are harvested at one of the small-scale, environmentally and socially respectful co-ops that they work with in Latin America or Africa. Alix and Toby try to cut out as many middlemen as possible, so that the maximum amount of money possible can go directly to the community of growers.  The plantations aren't necessarily formal rectangles of land-- they can be in the middle of the jungle, which is best because the cacao plants love a good tree canopy.


There, onsite, people crack open the nerf-football sized pod and take out the beans coated with goopy stuff (mucilage) and let them sit for a few days, covered in leaves and fermenting.

 
This fermentation stage is essential to developing the chocolate's complex flavors and notes.

 
 Then, after it's spread out and dried in the sunshine, the cacao is shipped in burlap or plastic or hemp sacks by boat and then by truck to Nuance, where it's roasted in Toby and Alix's own little chocolate factory here in Old Town, Fort Collins.


The beans are roasted at between 240 and 350 degrees Farenheight for about 15 to 40 minutes, in small batches.  Some people use convection ovens or coffee roasters, but Nuance has their own top-secret roasting technique.... so mysterious!

Toby and Alix love experimenting with different techniques and flavors... an intriguing mix of art and science.


Machines crack the cacao beans and vacuum and winnow off the husks.  So you get these cute little cacao nibs....


The cacao is then ground into chocolate that has the consistency of peanut butter.  This is called chocolate liquor or cocoa mass, and it's not alcoholic, but it is thick and greasy.  With exposure to air, it turns into hard chocolate chunks.  This process releases aromatic and volatile compounds. 


Next it goes into the melanger machine.  Melanger is French for "mix."  It's a big stainless steel drum, whose base and wheels are granite.  For 80 hours, the stone grinds, granite against granite, mixing the cocoa mass with sugar.  There's a noisy rumble as the machines mix, four of them mixing 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  The goal is to get the particle size to 20 microns or less so that your tongue feels only a super-smooth texture.  (Note that this is not melting with heat, but actual grinding.)  In this stage the volatile acids and compounds are blown off and dissipate with exposure to air.
 
If the chocolate is destined to become milk chocolate, they'll add high-quality whole fat dried milk to the melanger.



Refining is the process of reducing the particle size, and conching is the process of releasing volatile compounds by stirring.  So by the time the mixing is done, the sharp acidity is reduced and the flavor is more mellow.

You're left with giant chunks of chocolate, which are part of the "geology phase" of chocolate making.  You can see the mottling and striated patterns in the chocolate chunk, a result of the "blooming" process.  This happens because the cocoa butter parts of the chocolate crystallize at room temperature.


Then they temper the chocolate-- this is a process of controlled melting and cooling to get the structure to Beta 5, which means the cocoa butter is smoothly integrated.

To make white chocolate, they use the cocoa butter with high quality Madagascar vanilla and whole fat dried milk.


We also talked quite a bit about the horrible chemical processes that big chocolate companies use in making chocolate.  It's awful, and I won't get into it here, but trust me, what the giant, soul-less businesses do to chocolate is an atrocity, and once you learn about it, you'll never want to eat cheapo, mass-produced chocolate again! Single source, bean to bar chocolate is definitely the way to go, though there are just a handful of small companies in the U.S. that produce chocolate this way. (I might tell you about all that in another post, if you're curious...)

So after Toby and Alix and their several employees make the chocolate, they form it into bars, from different countries, with different concentrations of cacao, and different cultivars of cacao (forestero, criollo, or trinitario)...

 

They also use some of the chocolate for hand-rolled truffles.  They have fun inventing different truffle recipes, using local and artisanal ingredients from the Fort Collins area.



I was thrilled when Toby offered me this beautiful flight of chocolate after our interview!
He instructed me to eat a piece of chocolate (all in a particular order designed to maximize the tasting experience.)  I was supposed to chew it a little, but also let it melt in my mouth and move it around to different parts of my mouth.  After I finished each chocolate sample, I drank some water and chewed a water cracker.  This process was not only delicious, and endorphin-releasing, but lots of fun!

I loved reading Toby's descriptions of each kind of chocolate and seeing if I could notice those flavors in the chocolate as I tasted.  Because I love words, especially words describing taste, I'll share with you some terms used to evoke chocolate flavors:  floral, fruity, nutty, metallic, earthy, woody, vanilla, oaky, coffee, strawberries, acidity/brightness, herbal, minty, astringent, tobacco...
I tasted chocolate made with beans from Ghana (rich, deep, notes of vanilla, cherries, and honey), Ecuador (earthy, mysterious, subtle), Nicaragua (smooth and creamy with notes of tobacco leaf, nuts, molasses), Venezuela (beautifully balanced, notes of cashews and dairy cream), and Madagascar (fascinating, sophisticated layers of flavor like plum and apricot.)  Not surprisingly, Toby  has a creative writing background. :-)

Also not surprisingly, he has a design background.... which leads me to the decor of Nuance... gorgeous! Their retail space is owned by my dear creator friend Les Sunde, who put a lot of effort into making it architecturally beautiful, and then, Toby and Alix beautified it further...


I really love what they did with this antique skylight, to filter the bright sunlight....


And that wraps up my blissful morning of chocolate research! Thanks for coming by...

xo,
Laura

The AMAZON!!! (Part 5-- Waterfall Hike and Limpia)

Pegonka and me at the magical waterfall
Hello again!

So, this post will wrap up the Ecuadorian Amazon portion of my trip! After spending a few days at the Huaorani Ecolodge, we packed up our stuff and headed downstream by dugout canoe on the Shiripuno River.  There we camped for a night before leaving the jungle.

 

It was so peaceful floating down the river...


Our lodging situation was great-- tents to keep out the bugs, a nice platform and roof... and just down the hill were some showers and bathroom stalls... luxurious camping!

Here I am with Pegonka, my fantastic guide (with the yellow boots).  On the other side is cute little Fernanda and her mother, Inez, both of whom I really loved spending time with.


And here's Inez's youngest daughter, sweet little Vicky...



They taught me to weave bracelets with strands of palm...


I came home with lots of these beautiful bracelets, naturally colored with plant dyes from the jungle.  Here I'm showing off one on my wrist that Inez made for me...

*I still have achiote on my face from earlier that day... it's just smeared with sweat at this point!*
This is Inez's daughter with her adorable baby...

 

From the campsite, we took a gorgeous hike to a waterfall, along a ridge and down a steep canyon into a magical valley.

Pegonka plucked a plant on the way that we all used later as a natural shampoo in the pool beneath the waterfall. When you broke open the stalk, there was a gooey, foamy substance inside that lathered up nicely...


We stopped to relax in a natural vine hammock along the way.  Pegonka talked about how when he was a kid, he and his friends would swing on vines like this across the valley...

As he told me about his childhood shooting blowguns and climbing trees and swinging on vines, I kept thinking about Lil Dude and his 7-year-old classmates sitting all day at desks and staring at worksheets and whiteboards except for a few brief outdoor recesses... and honestly, it made me kind of sad.  I've observed that his natural inclination as a 7-year-old boy is to swing, run, climb, throw stuff, and pretend to shoot stuff.  Of course, I think education of children is important... I just wish that our education model involved more active interaction with the natural world.

Pegonka didn't start school until he was a young teen, so his childhood was blissfully free...  (Waorani kids nowadays in his community do start school at a younger age-- and then after school they swing and climb and shoot in the jungle.)


So relaxing....


With amazingly keen eyes, Pegonka spotted some fruit in the treetops and climbed up several stories to retrieve it.  He tossed it down to us, far below.


In the first post I did, I showed pics of him climbing using a woven ring of vines to help him climb... but he only needs that when he's climbing while carrying his blowgun and spear.  With his hands totally free, he doesn't need any extra help.  He said that by the time kids are 7 or 8, they've mastered the skill of climbing trees that are over a hundred feet high.  (My Lil Dude would definitely prefer mastery of tall-tree-climbing over mastery of double-digit-addition any day.)


I have no idea what the name of this fruit is in English... or even if an English name exists for it... but it had large seeds with very tart flesh around them that you sucked on.


We descended this steep staircase into the valley.  Pegonka said that before they built the stairs (for tourists like me, mainly), you had to use ropes or vines to get to the bottom.


And behold!  A magical piece of paradise awaited us!


After Pegonka did a quick caiman check with a stick (no caimans that he could find), we entered the water-- me, Pegonka, and Javier (the other awesome guide).  At first I was a little squeamish about where I stepped, worried it could be straight into the jaws of an annoyed caiman, but soon I forgot about that...

Pegonka and Javier showed me how to do a limpia-- a spiritual cleaning-- beneath the cascade.  It felt amazing-- so intense with the pounding water and mist.  The whole time, the sunlight was sparkling and bright blue morphos were fluttering around... and by the end of it, yes, my spirit felt gleaming new. :-)  
Pegonka told me that people-- especially shamans-- get power from waterfalls.  I asked him about other things considered sacred and powerful in his culture, his answer was jaguars (which had already come up in earlier conversations, in fact.)  When people die, their spirits become jaguars or other wild cats, and sometimes after a loved one dies, you might spot them in their feline form.
Afterward, we ascended the staircase, our spirits clean and soaring....

The last day, we headed downstream toward a road at the jungle's edge, where we would be picked up by a driver in an SUV.  I savored my last hours in the forest...

Here's Pedro, shielding his wife, Elizabeth, and their baby from the sun with a palm leaf in the canoe...


I sat next to Inez for these last hours in the canoe, and we had fascinating conversation about the past few decades of Waorani history in this territory.  I won't get into all the nitty gritty details here (you can read the book ironically titled SAVAGES if you're interested), but suffice to say that the various cultural groups in this area have a gory history of spearing each other on sight.  In the past several decades, a tentative peace has been reached, and there has been some intermarriage.  Inez has a Quichua husband, for example.  (Note that culturally, the Amazonian Quichua are very different from the Andean Quichua in my book THE QUEEN OF WATER.)

She told me that when she was a little girl, she went to school for just a couple years.  She had to swim in the river for an hour to get there, while holding her notebook over her head with one hand to keep it dry.  If it got wet, the teacher would hit her.  In third grade, she quit school because it was too hard to keep that darn notebook dry and she was sick of the teacher hitting her.


It was sad to leave the rain forest... I felt like we were leaving a piece of heaven.  Maybe I would've felt differently if it had been really rainy (it was sunny nearly the whole time-- this was in late Feb, just before the beginning of rainy season)... or if the bugs had bugged me (but that permithrin spray Ian put on my clothes back in Colorado made all bugs stay away from me.)  The whole trip felt so comfortable and natural... and I want to go back!!!

It was devastating to see the oil drilling operations at the edge of the jungle.  The documentary CRUDE shows all the horrible cultural and environmental and health consequences of these operations.  And unfortunately, President Correa has recently sold oil drilling rights in an enormous tract of territory also in the Yasuni National Park.  Heart-breaking, but it's prompted me do my own little part to try to support the indigenous groups in their effort to protect their land. 


If you missed my other posts about my trip to the Amazon, you can read Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here.  And stay tuned for one more Ecuador post, this next one in the Andes, with my friend and co-author Maria Virginia Farinango in her home town of Otavalo. Thanks for coming by!

xo,
Laura

The AMAZON!!! (Part 4-- The Journey There)

Hi once again,

So I thought I'd tell you about my journey to the Ecuadorian Amazon!

First stop off the plane from Denver to Quito was this lovely hotel, Casa Gardenia, in the historic part of town just a few blocks from the main plaza.  It was in a renovated old building and had a stylish, modern feel.


I had to do page proofs for The Lightning Queen over my trip, and had only a small window of time to do them-- basically the plane ride there and my "free day" in Quito, before heading to the jungle.  So I found this comfy spot on the third floor lobby and worked and enjoyed the view.  I took breaks here and there to get some tea from the second floor or walk down to the plaza and get food.  It was delightful!


Plaza de la Independencia-- a really nice atmosphere, with flowering trees and palms and people strolling about...


I did pop in and take a little tour of the main church on the plaza-- felt I should do at least one little touristy thing in Quito.


It was wonderful to be away from the cold and snow in Colorado-- this was late February, so I welcomed the warmth and greenery.


The next morning, an SUV picked me up from the hotel, and I got to know my tour guide, Javier, who was great.  We picked up the only other member of the tour group (it was tiny!)  and headed toward the "Oriente"-- the Eastern part of Ecuador, toward the edge of the jungle.  Gorgeous green-skirted Andean mountains...


After a few hours, we made it to Banos (there should be a ~ over the n, but I can't figure out how to do it in Blogger).  This was a lovely little town at the jungle's edge, where we had lunch.  You can see a hydroelectric dam here-- sadly, these kinds of dams have had negative effects on the environment and cultures in the rain forest...


As we drove into the outskirts of the Amazon, along deep canyons, there were giant walls of green on both sides-- stunning.

I had a major bout of grumpiness when our plane was delayed over 24 hours because of the Carnaval holiday spontaneously shutting down most of the airport operations.... There was a LOT of waiting at this tiny airport, having no idea if and when our plane would ever take off...  I'd spent SO much time and effort planning this Amazon adventure, I was feeling devastated at the thought of cutting any more days out of it.


 But then, at this little one-room airport, I started talking with a friendly woman named Sue Brown, who is the Ecuador education director for Vibrant Villages, an awesome foundation that focuses on education, arts, nutrition, health, agriculture, economic development... and guess what?  She's a big fan of The Queen of Water!  She's actually shared Maria's and my book with people she works with.  It was so cool to meet this incredible lady-- she turned my grumpy day around fast....


This airport (in the town of Shell, named after the oil company) was.... rustic.

Here's the luggage area...


Our plane was a four-seater-- I sat next to the pilot up front,  Our guide, Javier, sat next to the other member of the tour group.


It was weird to have such an up-close view of the pilot using the panel of controls... I tried to pay attention to what he was doing in case, you know, something happened and I had to land the plane.... ha!


Once we were up in the air, all worries and grumpiness dissolved.... and I was able to feel, to my bones, the miracle that I was experiencing.  I was flying over the Amazon!!!  I felt enormously fortunate.



Looks like broccoli! :-)


The ride lasted about 45 minutes.  Here we're approaching the Huaorani Ecolodge, on the Shiripuno river...



We were greeted by the Waorani community, which felt wonderful.  And our Wao guide, Pegonka, introduced himself.


Here we are, watching the plane take off down the grass airstrip...  I was completely elated at this point.... felt like I was still flying!  I was aware, every moment, of the miracle of this adventure.
 

I was charmed by my little cabin, with screen walls so I could see the jungle around me.  Nights and mornings sounded incredible, with the symphony of frogs and insects.


Here's the view from my bed.  Just beyond those trees is the river.  Paradise, truly.


Thanks so much for coming by!  I still have one more Amazon post I'm planning on doing (about my hike to a breath-taking waterfall and the limpia (spiritual cleaning) I did there.  And if you haven't read my first three posts, you can do so here, here, and here!

xo,
Laura

THE LIGHTNING QUEEN Cover Reveal!

Hello, dear readers,

I'm so happy to show you the cover of my next novel, coming on October 27, 2015!


The exquisite cover illustration is by Greg Ruth. Gorgeous jacket design by Elizabeth B. Parisi of Scholastic.

I love the swirling movement in the art-- there's a lot of swirling imagery in the book, and Greg captured it so beautifully.  I also love the ethereal quality, so airy and infused with light.  And I love how the colors near the girl's head are warm and golden, and then the palette moves down to cooler, moodier grays and greens, and then, once again, is grounded in golden light.

The girl pictured is Esma, who calls herself The Queen of Lightning, and the boy in the field of on her skirt is Teo, who narrates most of the book (the parts set in the mid-20th century).  The contemporary parts of the book are narrated by his grandson, Mateo.  Like my book What the Moon Saw, this one also spans generations.

(In case you're wondering whatever happened to The Impossible Caravan, this is that book!  The title changed to The Lightning Queen, but the name of the caravan in the story continues to be The Impossible Caravan.)

Here's a summary of the book:

     Nothing exciting happens on the Hill of Dust, in the remote mountains of Mexico. There’s no electricity, no plumbing, no cars, just day after day of pasturing goats. And now, without his sister and mother, eleven-year-old Teo’s life feels even more barren. Then one day, the mysterious young Esma, who calls herself the Gypsy Queen of Lightning, rolls into town like a rush of color. Against all odds, her caravan’s Mistress of Destiny predicts that Teo and Esma will be longtime friends.      Suddenly, life brims with possibility.      And magic.      And danger.      With the help of a rescued duck, a three-legged skunk, a blind goat, and other unexpected friends, Teo and Esma must overcome obstacles—even death—to make their impossible fortune come true. Their destiny will span generations and ultimately depend on Teo’s American grandson, Mateo, to be fulfilled.      Inspired by true stories from rural Mexico, this astonishing novel illuminates two fascinating but marginalized cultures―the Rom and the Mixteco Indians. Award-winning author Laura Resau tells the exhilarating story of an unlikely friendship that begins in the 1950s and reaches into today.
Ages 8 & up * Scholastic Press *  available as hard cover, e-book, and audiobook* October 27, 2015 release
You can pre-order it now!
Amazon Barnes and Noble
I encourage you to check in with your local indie bookseller about pre-ordering, too!
My brilliant editor with a big heart, Andrea Davis Pinkney of Scholastic
Here's a bit of background on the book, excerpted from my Author's Note in the back:

     I felt fortunate to form meaningful friendships with Mixteco people when I took a teaching position in the remote mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico. For two years, I was welcomed into Mixteco communities, first as a teacher and later as an anthropologist studying their culture. During this time, I heard stories about the beloved gitanos, whose caravans had shown movies in this region years earlier. I knew that gitanos (also known as Rom or Gypsies) have been misunderstood throughout the world, so I was intrigued by how fondly local people spoke of them. Like the Rom, the Mixteco have also faced prejudice and racist treatment for centuries. I felt drawn to explore the fascinating relationship between these two cultures.
     
     As I developed this story, I wove in realistic and mystical elements of oral histories I heard in Mixteco villages. The initial spark for this book came from the experiences of a ninety-six-year-old healer named María López Martinez (lovingly nicknamed María Chiquita—María the Little One). When she was a young girl, a gitana fortune-teller told her she would live a very long life. Shortly after her fortune, she grew ill and appeared to die. Inside their hut, her family held a candlelit vigil over her apparently dead body. At one point during the mourning, a drop of candle wax fell onto María Chiquita’s body. Somehow, it woke her from death!
        
     She told me that her time in the other realm gave her powers to become a healer. She lived to age ninety-seven, and near the end of her life, she proudly pointed out that the gitanos’ prediction had come true. I returned to María Chiquita’s village for her cabo de año—the candlelit one-year anniversary of her death. I’m grateful to continue a friendship with her daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter.

You can read more background on The Lightning Queen in another blog post I did here.

Thanks so much for swinging by!

xo,
Laura