Williams Writes - The Blog of Karen Lynn Williams

Beatrice's Dream chosen by USBBY for 2012 outstanding international book list

2012-02-10T04:48:00.000-08:00

Beatrice does it again with another nice recognition. Check out Beatrie's Dream and others on the 2012 USBBY site here

USBBY Outstanding International Books 2012 - News from the Fenn ...

http://fennlibrary.edublogs.org/2012/02/06/usbby-outstanding-international-books-2012/

And for more about USBBY and the Outstanding International Books list go to:

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/slj/articles/collectiondevelopment/893227-343/all_together_now_usbbys_outstanding.html.csp

Undocumented Immigrants and one little book

2012-02-04T09:44:00.000-08:00

In early December I went to El Paso to the Mexican Border to research my picture book, Facing Fear(working title) about Enrique, the child of undocumented parents. It is fiction and it is a difficult story to capture. My original manuscript was 1500 words. I have manage to cut to 850 words.

Those 850 words represent interviews with the FBI, reporters who regularly cross into war zones controlled by drug cartels in Jurez, teachers, children, and a social worker who works with children who are undocumented. It has meant reading many books, fiction and non-fiction and watching a number of films, reading news articles and journeying the internet for any thing from the Spanish word for run to facts about border patrol to personal stories from immigrants.

The story of undocumented immigrants is complex and compelling. I hope I can do it justice. The day after I sent the manuscript. to an editor who expressed an interest in this kind of material for children, this opt-ed piece appeared in the NY Times. It is worth a read. Honest and compelling, it captures all that I have tried to put into a picture book.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/opinion/do-it-yourself-deportation.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

It is interesting to note that as I was working on the book, this last month the Tucson school district was forced to eliminate a very successful program teaching Latino history and several books related to that program have been banned from the school system. This is a symptom of a larger problem we currently face in Arizona and other states creating and enforcing laws that work to discriminate against immigrants instead of to help solve the complicated immigration problems we face today.

Why I Write: to connect with one reader

2012-02-02T07:52:00.000-08:00

One Great Teacher Doing Great Things.

It is more and more difficult with the publishing world in the state it is today to find the courage to write and the faith that your book will find a home in a publishing house that will bring it out to readers who might read and relate to your book.

Then you get a letter like this and you know you cannot stop writing. Thanks Laurel for the work you do and for sharing.

Hello Karen,

My name is Laurel Conran. I am an ESOL Teacher. Recently, our community received many refugees from Burma. I orchestrated many programs for teachers, parents and community members to help teach the refugee families English. My passion is writing a children's book about my experiences. As I was looking for children's books for my refugee students to relate to, I found your books and teacher resources! Thank you so much for sharing your experiences! My favorite book is, "My Name is Sangoal.

May I share a story with you?

Today, I had a wonderful opportunity to read to a 2nd grade class. I co-teach the social studies class with the classroom teacher, I have many of my refugee students in her class. I am trying to teach the English speaking children HOW to help the refugees speak English and assimilate into their new country and school. I read your book, "My Name is Sangoal." I had the students find Sudan on the map. Next, I had students define "immigrant." One student said they saw a similar word to "migrate." Next, I asked students what they thought was an "immigrant." Responses varied, "a person living in Antartica, a person that is not supposed to be there or live there, etc..."

After discussing the correct definition, I introduced the word, "refugee." Again, a student saw the word similar to "refuse!" We discussed the meaning. I read the book with the students. They were very attentive. We stopped every 2-3 pages for a comprehension check...and to share Sangoal's feelings and how the children began to feel for Sangoal, not having any friends and no one being able to pronounce his name. The class felt sad for Sangoal and could relate to his feelings. some of the students became teary-eyed, especially my refugees and immigrants as they were making personal connections to the story. As a class the students came up with ways to help Sangoal feel more comfortable at his new school.

How did you ever come up with , Sangoal drawing pictures to help the classmates say his name??? That was ingenious and it was the class' favorite part!. The students applauded and said this was the best book they've ever read!!!

Thank you so much for sharing that story...it touched their young lives and mine!!! It was hard to read without tearing up!

I am writing and editing my first book about my experiences teaching refugees. I read in your bio that you were part of a writing club. I like that idea. I will look for one. This book is important for me to write. Need to get the message across to teachers and children how they can help!

Recently, I was interviewed by the Washington Post and VOA about the program I wrote, ""English Speaking Partners." Click below for my story!

VOA (Voice of America)YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v297k9p5Aoo

VOA (Voice of America) aired around the world:
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/usa/Immigrants-Learn-English-With-Their-Children-137753103.html

WASHPOST Article: Teaching Burmese Chin Refugees
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/for-burmese-refugees-english-lessons-at-work-build-school-ties/2011/06/23/AGPnxOsH_story.html

Thanks so much for reading my long email! Looking forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,

--
Laurel Conran

If you have not read the book:

My Name is Sangoel

Sangoel is a refugee. Leaving behind his homeland of Sudan, where his father died in the war, he has little to call his own other than his name, a Dinka name handed down, proudly from his father and grandfather before him.

When Sangoel and his mother and sister are resettled in America, things are supposed to be better but life in their new home is strange and lonely. The refugee camp seems better than this place where no one can pronounce his name and some even make jokes about it. Sangoel quietly endures the homesickness and ignores his mother’s suggestion that he might want to take an American name. He finally comes up with and ingenious solution to this problem and in the process begins to make friends and perhaps feel a little at home.

Co-authored with Khadra Mohammed and Illustrated by Catherine Stock in bright detailed scenes this is a poignant story of identity and belonging that will help young readers understand the plight of many children around the world as well as in their own neighborhoods.

Another Navajo Day: It's All Material

2012-01-30T08:06:00.000-08:00

Friday January 28 on the Rez, Chinle, AZ.

Can't resist the swap meet where I find anything from jewelry, to a bale of hay, to our patio table, my cowgirl boots, that axe handle we needed...to well just about anything whether I need it or not.

Lucky to hear about this sweat. Led by Navajo traditional healer trained in the Lacota way. Pitch black, hot and steamy. I hear the hiss of water on seven hot rocks one for each of the seven grandfathers, the wind sings outside, a raven caws. Inside we honor the four directions, share and give thanks. Sage scented steam coats my body.

Finally getting that third rug off the loom. The weaving is tuff going near the top. Tiny space, fat fingers...Can't wait to warp and begin a new project using all I have learned from my mistakes.

A walk to the west on the mesa, into the sunset with my rez rescue companion.

Not much writing? It's all material.

Stuff I Collect: Earrings

2012-01-23T07:38:00.000-08:00

Putting me in the Southwest is like putting an addict in a crack house. I have a combined 8 piercings in my two ears and I love earrings, especially ethnic style earrings, long dangling earrings, beaded, sliver, paper, shells. I even have a pair made out of stones.

I make sure I buy myself a new pair for Christmas. The perfect souvenir when traveling? A new pair of earrings. I have even been know to buy a pair I already have...can you say regift?

I have lost a single earring of more pairs than I can count. I keep the lone earring thinking the other will show up...sometimes it does. In the meantime I wear mix and match.

I cannot say that they exactly inspire but I will admit to having to have the right pair of earrings on before I say... sit down to write alone in the house by myself(I don't think the dog notices) to cook dinner(I don't think my husband notices). You get the idea: addiction.

Even with 8 holes in my ears I have more earrings than any one person would ever wear in a year. So I decorate the walls with my jewelry.

Sorting out my earrings is always on my todo list.

I cannot honestly say that my earring collection has inspired my writing yet but look what talented writer friend Leslie Davis Guccione did in her book Borrowed Baby:

He turned to the brunette who had just stepped aside to let them pass. Karen Holland. Her recognized her face, remembered the wild, naturally curly hair pulled back in barrettes at her temples. He glanced at her earrings~~handcrafted, small bits of brass.

..."Remember? We also talked about the piece I wrote on Haiti." She waved her multi-ringed left hand and laughed.

"You disappeared... I swear I tried to call you the next week."

"Malawi. Remember? I was off to Africa. Human interest stuff for Peace Corps article..."

..."Wearing more rings than ever..."

"Engaged, actually. Will Stevens one of the Pittsburgh Peace Corps doctors I went over to interview."

I am delighted to be the model with the earrings for this book...and right there in my ears ...handcrafted, small bits of brass.

Check out Leslie and her latest best seller at : WORDS@WORK: She tucked her ribbed tee... into graffiti-design cropped pants lesliedavisguccione.blogspot.com

I can say that I was NOT the inspiration for this story but I can guess a few friends who might be. ;-). And I have actually been in the Chick Palace.

In the meantime I have to go sort earrings. OR maybe head to the local swap meet, or the driving lot of the local grocery store. A drive to the rim of Canyon de Chelly... all right outside my door and guaranteed to offer a selection of new earrings. ;-) and a great way to procrastinate. But first I have to go put on the right pair(or pairs) of earrings.

Interview with the Author...ME!

2012-01-17T08:59:00.000-08:00

Last week I reveled in connections with the ancients on canyon walls.

Today I am back to connecting in cyberspace.

Check out the interview posted at: http://www.teazurs.blogspot.com/

Thanks to Angie for giving me the opportunity.

Remembering Haiti

2012-01-13T08:14:00.001-08:00

Thinking about Haiti and all of our friends there. Once you know Haiti you cannot forget.

This poem comes from my chapbook VOICES RISE AND FALL, HAITI POEMS, published by Students in the graduate program in creative writing at Chatham University.

IMAGINE HAITI

The sky is blue.

The earth begins to shake,

you tremble and bounce

like brightly colored beads

in the braided hair of the girl walking

Before you can think,

your house has fallen down.

The girl has disappeared

in clouds of gray dust

you cannot breath

in the sudden dark, black like night,

your family is missing,

or trapped, or dying, or dead or gone,

your mother, your father your child.

There is no air

no food no water.

All the people

crawling over rubble.

The maggots crawl on rotting flesh,

Calling your name

your grandmother two floors below

don’t be afraid of death,

her whispers fade, to silence

a voice you do not understand,

claws the cracks with fingers

coming to get you.

Calling you.

Bon Dieu is calling you

until you can no longer hear,

until they bulldoze

you into a grave.

The earth trembles again.

Three colored beads shiver

on shattered cement.

The singing in the streets;

Praise to God and Haiti.

Singing in the streets!

Because that is all that is left,

how you will survive

this day.

Walk and sing and sing.

You sing until your throat is raw.

Until you can no longer speak.

Blood spills from your lips.

You sing and no one will hear

And still you sing.

They call it looting,

You have not eaten for two days

or maybe three. Four. Five. Six.

But you are used to that.

They shoot you in the street when you take

some water, a sack of rice.

You sleep in the street

and the earth shakes again.

And again. The earth will never.

Stop. Shaking.

More about Resolutions for a Better Writing Life

2012-01-10T12:00:00.000-08:00

In my last blog about New Years resolutions I made it simple...

Eat less

Write more.

But in my experience it takes a few weeks into the New Year, after the holiday settles, to reflect and consider the challenges of the coming weeks and months. For example I am still eating more because we have been on vacation. Writing less with the same excuse...vacation time.

However upon further reflection I realize I forgot to add, "Read More" to my list of resolutions. BUT does reading count as writing time? Probably, if it is for research but then the definition of research can be broad...is just reading in the genre for which I am writing count as research? Possibly.

Another resolution I have considered adding to the short list is: LESS FACE BOOK time. While reading FB is well...yes...reading, it is also huge time suck thus detracting from writing time.

The only reason I joined FB in the first place, 4 years ago was to keep track of my last born who was off to India. He setup the account for me suggesting this was the best way to see his photographs. In the end he was never near an internet that allowed for him to post photographs and I ended up with...well let me check....166 friends by current count. I mean I had to friend my other three children, daughter-in-laws, real friends, distant relatives, virtual friends. After that things got out of control.

The real problem is that I spend and average of 23 1/2 minutes of valuable writing time stalking my son. Recently his posts do not automatically show up on my newsfeed. This is alarming because I suspect he may have changed his settings to eliminate his mother from his private life...or is this just the result of all the new FB formatting? Add several minutes of nervous reflection since I must consider, whether ANYONE is receiving or reading MY posts. A writer is supposed to have many friends reading and responding to posts which in theory should make said writer rich and famous.

I feel the need to check up on my youngest daily because once in a while he implies he has no friends which leads me to believe he may be unhappy or somehow maladjusted...so I check his wall. He has 524 friends and there are 967 photos of him. This looks pretty good to me so I can relax...except there are people out there with say 1070 friends. Still in my mind there is a problem with too many friends so I'm OK with this. He must at least be average on the friends scale. He has after all more friends that his mom has.

But then I can't ignore that fact that there are many comments on FB referring to my son as Party Dad. What does THIS mean? Should I worry? I spend too much writing time trying to find out if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

On the other hand I note many pithy posts referring and sending the reader to obscure memes (I learned this word from my son... while stalking him on FB). I feel like this is a good thing putting him on the intellectual scale above much of the FB posts I see out there.

Still...I must worry about his time management skills. Would he be less anxiety ridden about the upcoming finals if he spent less time ranting about how he hates pennies and posting articles about discontinuing the penny. I might agree with this but wonder what will bring good luck if we get rid of pennies...and perhaps I should pay more attention because I do not think anyone has written a children's book or a poem about the demise of the penny.

So....in 2012 I still resolve to Eat Less and Write More. I hope to read more too. FACE BOOK? Unfriend everyone or make new friends? My son is off to New Zealand, you can bet I will have to stalk him down under..and maybe write that book about pennies. A word to all his friends...watch what you post in the New Year.

MANY GENRES, ONE CRAFT -------- Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction: Many Genres One Craft Wins First Place at London Book Festival

2012-01-03T09:19:00.000-08:00

Great news in the New Year...I have two articles in this unique guide to writing popular fiction. Just found out that Many Genres, One Craft won first place for nonfiction at the London Book Fair.

Many thanks to the editors Heidi and Mike for the concept, time and work they put into this publication. Thanks for inviting me to be a part of this project.

Bravo to Seton Hill writers and instructors!

See the link below:

MANY GENRES, ONE CRAFT -------- Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction: Many Genres One Craft Wins First Place at London Book Festival

Ten Resolutions to Make My Life and My Writing Better

2011-12-31T08:38:00.000-08:00

Ten New Years Resolutions To Make My Life and Writing Better

OK, I have already crossed out 5 so you are lucky. Here you go…

1. 1. 1. Eat less. This is a problem because I write at a table that is three feet from the kitchen. Eating is one thing that it is possible to do while writing. Witness the crumbs on my laptop.

2. 2. 2. Exercise more. This is a problem because my exercise time, roughly 2 hours, takes away from my writing time. It is difficult to write while working-out although I am able to compose amazing stories while walking that never seem to translate to the written page. I can NOT giving more time to exercise. Cross this one out.

3. 3. Spend less time on Facebook. I joined this virtual society to stay in touch with my youngest when he went to India. One Friend. Now I have …wait let me check…. 164 friends. I agree that is not many friends by FB standards but I do not even know some of them.

On the other hand if you are a writer you are supposed to have a lot of friends so that they will pass your blog around and make more friends for you while making you rich and famous…see Number 4. So maybe this resolution should be, make more friends…still considering.

4. 4. Blog less…or more. Not sure because if I am blogging I am writing (see Number 5) . But is this REAL writing??? I mean “they” tell us to blog so that potential readers and editors will find us. But if I am blogging I am not working on that book I am supposed to be writing. If editors are reading all those blogs, they sure aren’t editing. Watch for more on this rant and more on #3 in the new year.

5. 5. Write MORE. Real writing…must determine if blogging is “real”.

I am going to keep this simple: Write More. Eat Less. Same old, same old.

Happy New Year.

Maybe it be more disciplined than mine…or not.

Solstice Sunset

2011-12-24T13:09:00.000-08:00

Solstice Sunset

I walk into apricot sky,

my dog charges

a windmill

clunks and clatters

on the wind burst

with crystal

flurries.

I should have named her

Don Quixote,

(Qui for short),

that dog, jousting

her demons

on the mesa.

I turn,

she follows.

into steal darkness

and home.

Candel holders made with scrap from the mesa...collected over the last year. Light for a new year ...Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Stuff that Inspires

2011-12-21T07:49:00.000-08:00

I collect stuff. I admit it. This is materialistic behavior. Christmas time can be the worst. I make sure I get what I want...for me. When I shop...it's one for him...one for me...one for her...one for me. Etc. Etc.

But I like to think the things I have are thoughtful, filled with ideas. The stuff I like has a story behind it, makes connections.

Like these seed pots from the Navajo, Hopi and Pueblo traditions.

These pots range from tiny to 12 or 18 inches in diameter. Today they are intricately hand-decorated and sold to collectors and tourists. Traditionally these vessels with small openings were used to save seeds after harvest time so that rodents and other animals could not get at them. In the spring the pots were smashed open and the seeds planted.

Reminds me of traditional piggy banks...smashed open when full( maybe to buy Christmas gifts). Which brings me to real pigs in Haiti. There, people told me they bought pigs and used their earnings to feed them so they would not spend the money in other less prudent ways. When the pig was grown they sold it and had the cash.... saved up in a real pig.

See? Seed pots on the Navajo Rez, to piggy banks, to Haitian pigs. A writer is always making connections.

Mostly, I love the metaphorical image of saving from the harvest and smashing into rebirth. Saving up the hope for a new planting season. I could work with that.

But first I have to finish shopping, wrapping, baking. Collecting. Procrastinating? Tis the season ...May yours be filled with things that inspire.

(some of these seed pots are even decorated on the bottom!)

Writers Always Steal

2011-12-19T09:20:00.000-08:00

It's true, we writers listen in on conversations, read what others have written, and when it suits we make it ours. My children used to introduce me to friends, " This is my mom, the writer. Be careful what you say. It can and will be used in a book."

It works like this sometimes...I have an idea for a picture book I want to write. The story is about a Navajo girl who wants to learn to weave but she is given the task of herding the sheep instead...Not sure where I can go with this story. The idea came from reading a non-fiction book on Navajo weaving.

Then presto I am hiking in the canyon with a Navajo friend who tells me a story about their sheep. Her nephew was herding them and how a bear got one of the sheep and they found the remains in the woods. Of course I am a little dense sometimes, until it hits me. Like a gift this friend has given me the answer to how to write my picture book. I think maybe not a bear but a coyote will work.

Yes, always stealing snippets of conversation, ideas from books, magazines, news programs. I am not suggesting plagiarizing or copying. I am suggesting that we writers take in what we see and hear around us and make it ours...a new take on a theme that is already out there. Or a new theme for an old idea.

And talking about stealing, another friend, writer, Leslie Davis Guccione http://lesliedavisguccione.blogspot.com/ shot me a picture of the Christmas tree HER friend made out of driftwood they collected on the beach. I miss the beach. I live in the desert. I want a tree like that.

Wait a minute...there are tons of wind blown and water- sogged bits of wood on the mesa behind my house. I dragged it home, daily, often under cover of dark so no one would see this crazy woman with twigs sticking out of her backpack, dragging more behind...late evening walks with my res dog, Reena.

I saved that wood for a year, piled in the laundry room. And built my own Mesa wood Christmas tree. Same idea, new theme... a gift from the friend of a friend who doesn't even know I stole her idea. I think she got the idea from something she saw in a gift shop. See? Stealing.

Happy holidays. With thanks for friends... who share tidbits, ideas and stories that I steal turn into something new and exciting.

Have snow shoes....Will Write

2011-12-12T12:29:00.001-08:00

An early Christmas present had me headed to Colorado this weekend to trek Lizard Head Trail.

While slogging through six feet of snow, at high altitudes, under crystal blue skies I got to thinking.... Snow shoeing is a lot like writing.

Like beating your head against the wall...it feels so good when you stop.

But like writing, when you are trekking uphill and find your pace and rhythm you can be lost in another world and never want to stop.

On the steep bits I tell myself to take ten steps and then I can take a break. I will still get to the top.

Just write 200 words today, everyday. One day I will get to the end of that book.

Lizard Head. A good title helps and you should know your destination. Where do you want your characters to end up?

I will never break trail.

But we writers always follow in the footsteps of the greats, one way or another.

You shouldn't go it alone. Trusted friends (husband, faithful canine or writer's group)who listen, encourage and tell you what they really think make the trail shorter, the writing stronger.

Leaving your comfort zone in the mountains or on the page makes you and your writing stronger. A short poem or a novel...it's always worth the work in the end.

Downhill? It might be easier than the rewrites but at least you are on your way...cruising.

To Write a Picture Book

2011-12-07T09:55:00.000-08:00

My latest picture book, Facing Fear(working title) is about Enrico. His family calls him Kiki. He is a ten year old Mexican American, born in the US, to undocumented immigrants. This project has me interviewing FBI agents, news reporters, teachers and young Mexicans, and passing through secondary border checkpoints.

I traveled to ElPaso, TX last weekend where I talked to kids at the fence. They were in Juarez and I was in Texas. La migra (border patrol agents) in armored vehicles watched patiently from four directions.So much more goes into the writing of a book than ever gets on the page. This is as true for a picture book as it is for any other work.

How can I tell this story in 800 words? Why won't Kiki's father let him travel to the tournament with his soccer team? Why is his sister so angry with him? Why do they have to hide at Tia's house overnight?

How will I capture the struggle the fear, the hope, the love in 32 pages?

Peace Corps 50th Anniversary

2011-11-29T08:41:00.000-08:00

Yes! That is me on the cover of the Southern Connecticut State University Alumni Magazine. I might look a tad different now since the photo was taken a few years ago ;-). This is great article on Southern Alums who have served in the PC published this year in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps. Steve and I served for nearly 4 years and now our son Christopher(born in the PC in Malawi) and his wife, Laurie are PC Volunteers in Mozambique. To see the article go to http://southernct.edu/publications/Southern_Alumni/Southern_Magazine_Fall_2011.pdf

Beatrice reviewed in Kirkus!

2011-11-14T15:00:00.001-08:00

BEATRICE'S DREAM
A Story Of Kibera Slum
Author: Williams, Karen Lynn
Photographer: Stone, Wendy
Publisher:Frances Lincoln
Pages: 32
Price ( Hardcover ): $17.95
Publication Date: December 1, 2011
ISBN ( Hardcover ): 978-1-84780-019-0
Category: Picture Books
Classification: Nonfiction

Life for a girl in the slums of Nairobi.

Beatrice, 13, tells readers about her life in Kibera, a shantytown of discarded metal, wood and other refuse. The youngest of five children, she lives with her eldest brother, Francis, and his wife. Her father perished in in a car accident, and her mother died of tuberculosis when she was 9 years old. Every weekday morning, rain or shine, she walks half an hour to school, a building built of tin. Her favorite subjects are English and Kiswahili, the official language of Kenya. Beatrice is the school timekeeper during lunch. They eat githeri, a special Kenyan dish made from beans and maize. She stays after school for extra lessons but must be home before six o'clock, when it gets dark. Often, her dog Soldier is waiting for her. Beatrice's nightly chores include making dinner and ironing. If there's enough paraffin in the small lamp, she'll also study. On weekends, she works in her brother's shop, washes clothes and helps with the marketing. All of this is told in Beatrice's matter-of-fact first-person voice. The book ends with a two-page description of the Kibera slum and a sad picture of it. Stone's beautiful color photographs—40 in all—work in tandem with Williams' simple, direct prose to capture the poverty of Kibera as well as Beatrice's resilience and many unique aspects of her life, likely unfamiliar to most American children.

Informative and affecting. (Picture book. 5-10)

The writing? life

2011-11-04T10:46:00.000-07:00

Seems like I am not getting enough writing done at the moment. Teaching, travel, family, Navajo language class, house and garden all take my time. But I take every opportunity I can to explore life and land on the reservation. I need to trust that soaking in life in the canyon will turn into material for a story or book or essay or article. Am I fooling myself? Procrastinating when I say this is my writing time? This is how I have always worked...writing as a natural part of my life eventually falls into place. I look at every adventure in the canyon with a writer's eye. I am making friends and reveling in the opportunity to explore my passions, nature and culture. Here is where I have been, trying to figure out what it means and how to express the stories of this place. A collage of part of my summer. Rodeo, Canyon ruins, weaving in the canyon, Navajo rug auction.

Beatrice go to the Netherlands and more

2011-10-13T07:40:00.000-07:00

Just got my copy of Beatrice's Dream in Dutch. Can't wait to read it ;-).

I love sending my books out into the world.

And my children...Chris and Laurie are in Mozambique with the PC. Peter lives with his wife Chimei and son Ethan in Taiwan. Jon is about to go for a Semester in New Zealand. Rachel is in Pittsburgh. Four kids, fours continents.

At least I can keep a copy of my books with me at home.

And Beatrice? Here is what Corbis Photo agency has to say:

Wendy Stones photo essay on life in an African slum is a heavyweight anchor of reality for American teenyboppers, often spoiled by iPods and designer jeans.

Kibera is the largest slum in Nairobi and the second largest in all of Africa. Census reports estimate the population to be somewhere between 170,000 and two million people.

In Kenyaon the surface between an impoverished and illiterate majorityemerges the dream of Beatrice, a 13 year-old orphan determined to carve her way out through higher education.

Corbis Contributor Wendy Stone and author, Karen Lynn Williams, provide us with a compelling set of pictures and words to balance a young girls account of living uncertain in Beatrices Dream: A Story of Kibera Slum. The powerful essay describes a young girls, walk to school, the dust that blows between her teeth [and] her fear of being alone

The photography offers a wonderful contrast between hope and despair that Wendy captures well. Her images, so deeply rooted and honest, make obvious that Stone has lived in Nairobi for quite some time. In 30 years, familiarity appears to have bred anything but contempt. Bare witness to her self-realization, that despite being worlds apart we are all in this together.

Experience it for yourself.

AZ SCBWI 2011

2011-10-04T20:55:00.000-07:00

On October 1 I had the honor of speaking at the AZ SCBWI conference in Scottsdale AZ. I shared my experiences writing the picture book from travels and life's journeys.

I also got to listen to editors, agents and authors confirm that there will always be room for good books for children in this new digital age and beyond.

It was inspiring to listen to young editors who are passionate about what they do, articulate, intelligent and serious about creating good books for young people. Voice, plot, character...the craft does not change. Now to get back to work and put the inspired muse to work!

Great School, Great Idea!

2011-09-19T13:13:00.000-07:00

Sangoel is still making friends and readers everywhere:

Dear Ms. Williams,

I'm writing to let you know that Oakridge Elementary School selected My Name is Sangoel to kick off its new school wide reading project--Mosaic. We are an international neighborhood school located in Arlington, VA and our 660 students come from more than 30 countries. The themes identified in your book were a perfect fit for the mission of the project, which uses literature to teach targeted reading strategies while exposing students to different cultures. Today, more than 700 students, teachers and staff read your book and everyone was mesmerized. Many of students have come to Arlington from different countries and have encountered obstacles similar to Sangoel's. As such, the students easily connected with the book and its themes, which resonated through our school. To learn more about Oakridge's Mosaic project, please see our website at http://www.apsva.us/Page/6203.

Thank you, and we're looking forward to your next publication.

Prickly Pear Jam from the Canyon

2011-09-07T12:28:00.000-07:00

I had been waiting all summer for those Yellow cactus flowers to turn to purple red fruits. Elsie Cly had promised to take me into the canyon to pick prickly pears.

The day we went happened to be one of the wettest days in the canyon this summer. I drove our little black jeep with mud spewing over the roof and Elsie hanging on to the passenger bar in front of her yelling, "Don't stop. Just don't stop." I don't know which was worse the deep sand or the mud and water. "Karen," Elsie said, "go left here". I veered left. "No the other left. follow the tracks out of the water."

There were at least ten different tire treads leading out of the mud and quicksand. "No! the other left!" And then, "Karen this is the place where anyone can get stuck. Not just you. Don't stop. " And Eslie's famous advice "Be careful here."

We finally made it to the first patch of prickly pears. The recipe I found on line said I needed fifty. Elsie used the tongs I brought to twist the prickly fruit from the thorned cactus paddles and I used my garden gloves.

We picked a bucket full and got back into the jeep.

Each patch of prickly pears we passed looked bigger and riper than the last so we had to stop again and again, filling basket and bucket. My eyes much bigger than my ability to prepare the pears.

When we determined that I had more than enough red fruits, well over 50...It was time to clean off the prickles. The internet said to hold each one over the flame of the stove burner and turn it gently. Elsie had a better, Navajo method. We stopped and picked bundles of Rabbit brush.

Then we laid out a layer of brush on the

ground, dumped the pears on top and swept them round and round with bunches of the green brush with tiny yellow flowers. Sure enough the fruits were shiny and prickerless by the time we finished.

Back through the mud nearly stuck twice but we made it with Elsie exclaiming "We are the wild women!"

The real work began at home where pealing and getting the seeds out of one pear the size of my thumb left me with the usable fruit about the size of the tip of my pinky finger. But with some perseverance and experimentation (no pectin at the local grocery), I now have eight jars of prickly pear jam

and tons of pears left for some salsa? juice? relish? Yummm.

Why I write for Children

2011-08-23T15:02:00.001-07:00

I recently had this email from a fellow author of books for children. Here is what she has to say about My Name is Sangoel and her experience using it in the classroom. The second part give me shivers:

I really do love that book. When schools ask for modeling on response to

literature, that's one of the three books I always grab off my shelf.

Some of my favorite responses have been the character responses. Sangoel is

brave and then they offer up 3-4 examples from the text where they thought

he acted in a brave way. Or, Sangoel was clever, and again they provide

evidence from the text.

One of the most powerful responses I read was a personal response from a 5th

grade boy who said how his brother had given him a nickname that now

everyone knew and used and how it made him feel on the inside whenever he

heard it. This student offered to share what he had written and when he

completed the response several kids in the room looked at him and said,

"I'll never call you that again. Promise."

A Beach Tail Now a Recorded Book

2011-08-18T08:54:00.000-07:00

A Beach Tail is now available on Recorded books performed by Dion Graham. Unabridged with a second track included with page turn signals.

Check it out on line or from:

Recorded Books

270 Skipjack Road

Prince Frederick, MD 20678

1-800-638-1304

A Birthday and an Obituary

2011-08-02T07:46:00.000-07:00

It is a good thing to google yourself once in while. I try to do it regularly. It is a great way to procrastinate and also to find out where you stand in the world arena. Do you come up first on the search engines? Is that person really you? How many pages of you are there on Google?

The last time I looked I was amazed to find out they were celebrating my birthday in Australia. And this really was me. I think this is a great idea and everyone should be celebrated in this way. Also everyone should celebrate my birthday and forget my age ;-).

Happily the next entry on Google after the birthday was an obituary for well.... not me, but Karen Lynn Williams. I was relieved to find out that it was an article about the death of a different KLW and I am still around to write and celebrate more birthdays although I did give a moment of silent thought to the family whose lost another Karen Lynn Williams. It seems there are many of us out there.

See below for the blog that describes my birthday celebration in Australia! Perhaps we should all celebrate a Harmony Day ...everyday.

TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2011

22nd March Karen Lynn Williams (1952)

Yesterday at school we celebrated Harmony Day with a visit from a wonderful group of people from the Torres Straits. Harmony Day is celebrated around Australia on 21 March each year. It's a day where all Australians celebrate our cultural diversity. The day is also the United Nation's International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The message for Harmony Day in 2011 is that Everyone Belongs, which means all Australians are a welcome part of our country, regardless of their background. Our school has extended this message to become Harmony Week. This is extremely fitting given that the school community is quite homogenous and needs to be made more aware of cultural diversity.

Today is American author Karen Lynn Williams'birthday. She is the perfect author for this week as she has lived and worked in developing countries and worked tirelessly with refugees in her own country. She has written widely based on her experience and her books certainly help in the quest to eliminate racial discrimination. We have three of her books (pictured) in our library perfect for discussion on a variety of topics from racism, sexism, inclusion to family similarities if it is with very young children. You can read blurbs, reviews and teaching suggestions for the books on her website.

Dying wool in the canyon

2011-07-13T09:20:00.000-07:00

It's still all about writing. On Monday I drove my little black jeep through mounds of sand with Winnie Henry. We picked the leaves from a black walnut tree,the same one her mother used to pick from for dye, snake weed and rabbit bush.

Back at her old stone Hogan we stoked up the ancient propane stove and set the water to boil while we picke the leaves off the branches and sat outside sharing stories. Two old grannies outside the Hogan in the canyon. Drop the wool in, stir it around. It is very exciting to see what color it will be. Winne has created a monster. I walk on the mesa an eye every plant as a potential dye for wool for my next rug.Sharing stories and dying wool. The wool will end up in a rug. I hope the stories end up in a book or many books. Maybe not what we did and how we did it but the place, the sense and the feel of it all, the details. I am learning the place and the people. It is all research, all life. This is the place where Spider woman gave weaving to the Navajo and I am connected, honored to have this opportunity.

Beatrice's Dream Reviewed by IBBY

2011-06-27T14:38:00.000-07:00

A nice endorsement from and important organization in the world of Children's books:

Beatrice’s Dream
Karen Lynn Williams, photog. Wendy Stone, London: Frances Lincoln Children’s
Books, hb. 978 1 8478 0019 0, £11.99, 2011, 32pp.
A heart-warming and down-to-earth look at the life of Beatrice from the Kibera slum in
Nairobi, Kenya.
The matter-of-fact tone of the book enables readers to be grateful for their own style of
living and at the same time admire Beatrice’s determination to better her life and give
back to her community. Issues that affect children the world over are handled in a
sensitive manner, enabling teachers and children to explore their own feelings. We were
surprised at the insightful and thoughtful comments the children made as a result of
sharing the book together. The gentle humour in the book made us smile.
The photographs encourage the reader to be curious and to want to learn more about
Kibera. Children can easily draw the parallels between their lives and that of Beatrice,
the similarities and differences. Unlike Beatrice’ s description of parallel lines ‘never
meeting even if you follow them up to Heaven’, in this book there is a sense of hope that
we can work towards a future where our parallel lives do meet through education, both
in the Kenyan slums and around the world.
An uplifting, sensitive and thought-provoking book much enjoyed by Years 4 and 6.
Vicki Willingham

This is the International Board on Books for Young people. Check out the site: http://www.ibby.org/

One Thing I'm good At on E-books

2011-06-14T11:52:00.000-07:00

I have a sony Reader. My husband gave it to me for Christmas two years ago. He has many books on that reader. I have not even opened it yet. This is in part due to the fact that I love books, real books made out of paper, the ones where you turn pages. I have piles of them unread at my bedside, on the coffee table, at my desk so that is another reason I have not turned on the reader. I need to read those books first.

But now I have have a book on e-books. Will e-books bring Julie and Bean back to life? Does this mean I can drag out the manuscript for the sequel to this book and complete it? Will schools invite me to speak because one of my YA books is back in print (sort of). Who will have access to this book now? Only those with enough cash to buy a reader? There are some opportunities out there and I guess I had better get used to them. On the other hand does this mean that now the author must write the book PUBLISH IT herself and promote it too? And will she be paid? It remains to be seen how the dust will settle after this shake up in the publishing world. For now I guess I can celebrate entering this new phase of publishing. But I will still read that stack of books at my bedside before I open my reader unless it is to download ONE THING I'M GOOD AT. :-).

Enlarge Image

One Thing I'm Good At

By Karen Lynn Williams

On Sale:

1/4/2011

Formats: eBook

Single-Click Shopping:

See More Retailers

Book Description

Nothing seems to be going right for Julie Dorinsky. Her best friend, Abby is hanging with the gifted crowd, while Julie's struggling to keep up in school. She can't even read the notes Abby passes her in class. It seems as if everybody, from her snooty older sister, Alexia, to her baby brother, Bean, is smarter than she is. There must by one thing she's good at.

In One Thing I'm Good At, Karen Lynn Williams has created a warm and winning portrait of a young girl discovering her hidden talents.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Julie Dorinsky believes she is "a dumb kid who couldn't do anything right." In fact, little seems to be going right for this fourth-grader. A shaky speller and slow reader, she's afraid to show her parents her stack of "poor work" school papers and she is losing her best friend to the class snob. Things are equally rocky on the home front. Julie's father is recovering from a heart attack, so her mother has taken a secretarial job and often seems "tired or upset or busy." Once Julie's confidante, her older sister, Alexia, is now dismissive and condescending ("You are so stupid!... You can't even take a phone message!" she screams when Julie takes down a caller's name and number incorrectly). At times, the girl's ineptitude is overblown, and most readers will quickly pick up on the ways Julie positively influences her bright and likable four-year-old brother. She patiently teaches him to write his name, make a kite and dial 911. When their father passes out and the boy phones in a life-saving call for help, it becomes clear to everyone--especially Julie--that the one thing she is good at is teaching. Williams (Galimoto) delivers an encouraging message for any middle-grader short on confidence and self-esteem. Ages 8-up. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Grade 3-5-Fourth-grader Julie thinks of herself as a real loser. She has trouble reading and she can't spell. She has "poor work" papers that need a parent's signature, but she doesn't want to upset her father, who has recently had a heart attack. She finds herself leading a life of lies, pretending that she's capable of reading difficult books, saying that she has finished her homework, and telling her sister that their father has already seen the test she failed. Then her teacher assigns an essay on "One Thing I'm Good At." Julie is discouraged, believing there is nothing she excels in, but when her father passes out, her four-year-old brother credits Julie with having previously taught him to call 911. She begins to feel better about herself, knowing that what she did helped to save her father's life. Williams has created a cast of realistic characters that includes a crabby teenager, a frustrated substitute, and a teacher's pet. A satisfying story with an important message about self-image.
Anne Knickerbocker, Cedar Brook Elementary School, Houston, TX
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

More Awards and Connections

2011-06-02T08:47:00.000-07:00

Four Feet and Sangoel (A Beach Tail too)still making friends and connections around the country and winning awards:

Khadra, founder of the Pittsburgh Refugee Center and coauthor of Four Feet Two Sandals and Sangoel reports on a teacher in North Carolina whose classroom read Four Feet Two Sandals. She said they were so inspired by the book that they wanted to donate sandals to PRC. We were pleasantly surprised yesterday when a huge box of brand new sandals came to our door with a note that had been signed by all the students. It was so sweet, we were all very happy about it. There are so many sandals!(photo Khadra and office manager).

And this from Arkansas: Congratulations, your book "My Name Is Sangoel" has been chosen for the Arkansas Diamond Award List for K-3 students in the 2011-2012 school year. There are a total of 14 books on this reading list. Students must read at least three of these books before they are eligible to vote for 'book of the year' in April 2012. For nearly 20 years we have over viewed this list of books with the librarians and some teachers before the next school year. We prepare an overview document covering each book, something about the author.

Check it out here: http://apsd.k12.ar.us/~murphyk/Diamond%20Award%20Page.htm

Bravo to all those teacher and librarians and parents who work so hard to make reading and books a priority for children everywhere. And Bravo to Sangoel!

And this note from a reader and talented author:

Hi Karen,

Yesterday, I bought your picture book A Beach Tail from BBGB children’s book store in Richmond VA where I live. It’s so beautiful like all of your work. I’m a huge fan of yours and especially love Tap-Tap and Circles of Hope. I treasure my copies dearly! I only spent any time in Haiti once for a few weeks in 1990.

Your view of the world just makes me happy. (I especially like this part ;-) ) I’ve recently completed my first historical fiction about the blacksmith Gabriel who organized a slave revolt here in Richmond in 1800. Candlewick will publish it next year. I wanted Gabriel’s story to subtly entwine with Haiti’s story and Circles of Hope helped me see how to begin to trace that connection.

Just wanted to say Hi and thank you for your writing.

Yours truly,
gigi

Gigi Amateau
web: www.gigiamateau.com
blog: www.bufflehead.wordpress.com

Check out Gigi's Web and blog! This is a great example of how the creative writing process works and it is all about connecting. And problem solving. "I wanted Gabriel's story to subtly entwine with Haiti's story and Circles of Hope helped me see how to begin to trace that connection." Thanks Gigi!

Critters on the Mesa

2011-05-19T07:42:00.000-07:00

So many stories...so little time. While getting to know the life and land here on the reservation, I am also meeting the critters.

Everyone is welcome at this table. This thirsty bird joins the humming birds at my feeder every day. I need to get t bird bath! Little moisture on the mesa. I am sure there is a story here and more.

We are told to watch for Black Widows in the garage. Steve treats patients for Widow stings? bites? They are nasty and life threatening. Is this spider outside my front door after Steve cleaned the garage a Black Widow? Hmmmm....

And these Coyote pups? kits? cub? Young 'uns greet me every day on the mesa. If a Coyote crosses the path of a Navajo it is bad luck and a blessing may need to be done but I just enjoy these critters.

Writing Connections: A Good Question

2011-05-13T13:34:00.000-07:00

I love the connections I make through my books. They go out into the world and make new friends. Some of them contact me. See this email I just received from Japan. Michiko gave me permission to share:

Dear Karen,
How are you?
Since the Japanese version of “CIRCLES OF HOPE”, people around me read it,
and almost all said, “it was very good!”
Lately some book journals take it up and favorable coments have carried up.

There is a question from a reader. And it is what I also want to know.
You wrote in the dedication words, “In the memory of Gwen Grant Mellon~”
May I ask you who Gwen Grant Mellon is? What was she like? What has she
done for Haiti? Because I’ve never heard of her, I would appreaciate it if you
enlighten me about her.

Have you been in Haiti after the earthquake in 2010?
I visited Haiti in March with a team of Artists without Borders, and had some art
workshop in schools. In many part Haiti is still in mess and difficulty but streets
in Port-au-Prince are full of people’s energy and vigor.
I have written a report on the activities we had done in Haiti, but it is in Japanese.
When the report is translated in English, I’ll send it to you.
During my stay in Haiti, big earthquake and tsunami attacked Japan and nuclear
power plants accident. Though my region didn’t have damage, now we have big
difficulties that will weigh on us in the long future.
But Haiti Is Haiti, we are going to keep supporting haitian school, encouraging
people each other.
Hoping your response,　

Sincerely Yours,　Michiko Takaoka

Michiko has a good question. Here is my answer. I had the honor to be at Hospital Albert Schweitzer when Mrs. Mellon was still alive. You will see from the obituary below why I dedicated Circles of Hope to her memory. But first another Circle of sorts. Note that Michiko is raising money along with other artists for Haiti after the tragic and devastation earthquake that many have forgotten about.

At the same time I live on the Navajo reservation where a group of Navajo artists are using art to raise money for those in Japan who have been effected by the tsunami and earthquake.

My answer (in part) to Michiko:

Thank you for your kind note about Circles of Hope. I am please to hear that it is so well received in Japan.

To answer your question about Mrs. Mellon I need to explain that I lived for two years with my husband and four children at Hospital Albert Schweitzer in Deschapelles, Haiti in the 1990s and again for one year in the early 2000s. It was a great pleasure and privilege to know Gwen Mellon who with her husband started the hospital in the 50s. I am attaching her obituary here. I think it gives a good sense of the kind of person she was and her husband as well. Among the many, many things the hospital did for the Haitian people was to start a tree planting project and so I was inspired to write the book through my association with that project. The tree nursery was in my backyard!

I have not been back to Haiti since the earthquake. The hospital has a website. If you google the Mellons, Gwen Grant and Larimer Mellon or HAS or Hospital Albert Schweitzer Haiti You will find much information.
Thanks so much for asking the question. It is a good question and an interesting inspiring story and few people ever ask. There are several books about the Mellons. They had a strong relationship with the famous Albert Schweitzer too.

,We have several close friends in Japan and we feel for your country and your people. It is remarkable that in the face of your own concerns you are still able to turn your attention to Haiti.

I wish for the people of Japan courage and a return to a safe life there.

Friday, December 01, 2000

By Barry Paris, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Gwen Grant Mellon was the dynamic woman behind the reluctant heir, his equal partner in their prosperous Arizona cattle ranch and in their amazingly sudden decision to quit it and devote the rest of their lives and fortune to the people of rural Haiti, co-founding the world-renowned Albert Schweitzer Hospital there.

Song of Haiti: The Lives of Dr. Larimer and Gwen Mellon
When "Song of Haiti" first appeared as an article in the Post-Gazette Sunday Magazine in 1993, it included little about Dr. Larry Mellon's years in Pittsburgh and his family ties. Much of that information -- some of which did not make the book of the same title - appeared in the Sunday Magazine last September.

Mrs. Mellon, widow of Dr. William Larimer Mellon Jr., died Wednesday in Miami at 89 of complications following hip surgery. She remained the hospital's active leader and most elegant, eloquent spokesperson to the end.

Fair, willowy and regal, Gwen Grant was born into a genteel New York family that divided its time between Manhattan and idyllic summers upstate on the Hudson in Geneva. She was educated at the Shipley School in Bryn Mawr, Pa., and graduated from Smith College in 1934 -- an excellent equestrienne, adventurous lover of the outdoors and independent-minded maverick, not unlike Larimer Mellon.

Mellon, for his part, had reluctantly joined the family banking and Gulf Oil concerns, working in the sales department for two gloomy years. To escape the confinement of his white-collar job, his first marriage and Pittsburgh, he took off and bought a ranch in Pecos County, Ariz., becoming a dawn-to-dusk working cowboy, building fences, riding herd and doing his own branding.

Gwen Grant had her own confinement and first marriage to escape. When John Rawson, by whom she had three children, informed her he was leaving them behind to take a European job, she replied that she'd be leaving, too.

"I told him, 'I'm going to make myself a new life -- I'm leaving,'" she recalled. "He said, 'You wouldn't dare.' I said, 'Yes, I would dare.' I don't know how I had the nerve, with three kids and no job. But I went out West."

She was a 37-year-old divorcee, supporting herself and three youngsters by working on an Arizona dude ranch, when she and Mellon met in 1945. They fell in love and were married on Feb. 2, 1946, in Wilton, Conn., then returned west and settled into a comfortable ranch life, where it was not uncommon for Mellon and his boys to brand 250 cattle in a day -- a good life, but not wholly fulfilling.

Mellon himself didn't quite realize that until he read a 1947 Life magazine article on Albert Schweitzer's hospital in Gabon.

Mrs. Mellon was in the act of hanging some new curtains when her new husband informed her of a momentous new mission that would radically alter their lives. "He blurted it out: 'I think I'll become a doctor and practice in the undeveloped world.' And I said: 'So that's what's been on your mind lately. You're right, we don't want to sit around looking at the damn cows all our lives.'"

Both enrolled at Tulane University in New Orleans. During Mrs. Mellon's medical studies, she dissected mosquitoes for an experimental syphilis treatment program and was trained in malaria control and tropical entomology at Charity Hospital, which was then trying out induced malaria therapy to treat mental illness resulting from syphilis.

Together, they decided to build their hospital in the rural midsection of Haiti, 90 rugged miles northwest of Port-au-Prince in an Artibonite Valley village called Deschapelles.

A healthy ratio of doctors to population is 1 to 2,000. In the Artibonite -- a 600-square-mile area with 185,000 people -- there was not a single doctor in private practice.

Legal, financial and logistical details had to be worked out, and the legwork was left to Mrs. Mellon. The Haitian government was to grant the rent-free site and 15 residential outbuildings on Standard Fruit's former banana plantation at Deschapelles, plus water rights, tax exemptions for equipment and supplies and a 100-acre farm. But the agreement drafted by the Haitians contained a 25-year limitation. Mellon dispatched his wife to Haiti to change it.

Many wives of that day might have been daunted by the prospect of negotiating with the head of a foreign country, but Mrs. Mellon was not among them.

Armed with Dr. Mellon's instructions, she went to Port-au-Prince to tell President Paul Magloire the 25-year restriction had to go -- and came away with the crucial concessions they needed.

While her husband finished med school, Mrs. Mellon almost single-handedly supervised construction of l'Hopital Albert Schweitzer, which opened June 26, 1956.

Certain roles as "enforcer" fell to Mrs. Mellon. Then and now, many called it "l'Hopital de Mme. Mellon" (Madame Mellon's hospital) because it was she who sat out front every day, recording the patients' names and collecting the fees.

The cost of being seen in the clinic -- including examination, lab work, medication and food -- was two gourdes (about 40 cents). It was hard for many to pay. Often a bag of rice or fruit was accepted instead of money. But payment was required on the theory that anything free is not highly valued -- in Haiti or anywhere else.

Mrs. Mellon subsequently helped initiate a vast array of HAS Community Development programs on the hospital campus and at the HAS outreach centers, where literacy, health, sewing, carpentry, homemaking and child care were taught. She was intimately involved in the dozens of sanitation and water projects her husband brought to fruition for the Artibonite Valley over the next 30 years.

Shortly before he died in 1989, Mellon named her as his successor as president of the Grant Foundation and effective head of l'Hopital Schweitzer.

In a country with such terrible overpopulation, disease and high infant mortality rate -- 50 percent -- she was once asked, did she ever get discouraged?

"Neither of us ever was," Mrs. Mellon replied. "We had many disappointments, but we always could think of something else to be done and we did it and it made a difference. We were more fortunate than a poor person sitting in his house with no food. There's not much he can do. For us, it was different. We could try another program, ask someone else for help -- do something."

Every Sunday she would visit and chat with every patient in the hospital, including those who lined the hallways in benches or cots or gurneys.

It meant an enormous amount to the Haitians.

Mrs. Mellon's wry, piquant autobiography "My Road to Deschapelles" was published in 1997.

Ian Rawson, a son of Mrs. Mellon by her first husband, was just 10 when he learned of his mother's intention to start the hospital with his stepfather.

"We had to learn, as children, that we had to share them as parents with other people -- people who relied on them for strength and inspiration," Rawson, of Squirrel Hill, said yesterday. "We learned to see [our mother] as something other than a mother, but as a role model as well."

Rawson said family members have been in touch with the hospital since Mrs. Mellon's death. He said there is "a great sense of loss" there.

Rawson said his mother will be buried next to Dr. Mellon near the hospital, on a hillside overlooking a valley. She will be buried in a simple cardboard box, as was her husband a decade ago.

"His point was that it was the way the very poorest of the poor were buried," Rawson said.

Mrs. Mellon also is survived by son Michael Rawson of Tenafly, N.J.; daughter Jenifer Rawson Grant of Essex, Conn.; 12 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Private burial will take place in Deschapelles, Haiti, tomorrow.

Memorial contributions may be sent to l'Hopital Albert Schweitzer, in care of The Grant Foundation, 1410 Magellan Drive, Suite 101, Sarasota, Fla., 34243.

Staff writer Caroline Abels contributed to this report.

Spring in Chinle

2011-04-26T08:40:00.000-07:00

Tumble weeds and Dust. Tumble weeds pile up along the fence and dust piles up on my window sills. I develop new strategies for cleaning. Wet towels around the windows. Check the weather before cleaning...again.

Daffodils in the dust. New strategies for gardening too. Not sure what they are yet. Recalculate my expectations.

Art lessons with Teddy Draper. http://www.amerindianarts.us/teddy-draper.shtml A new friend, learning new skills. Like writing it takes time to learn art and much practice.

Many Genres One Craft

2011-04-05T19:31:00.000-07:00

Check out the real cover for this new exciting and unique book that has two of my articles in it!

Go to this website for more information and to order your copy.

http://manygenres.blogspot.com

One Of A Kind New Book for Writers, Students, Teachers, Readers

2011-03-24T19:17:00.000-07:00

I am honored to part of this project along with many talented writers. I have two essays in this unique new book.

See the blog and check out the facebook page. Check back here for updates.

http://manygenres.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Many-Genres-One-Craft/141606902563200

"MANY GENRES ONE CRAFT is a brilliant and insightful must-have book for any writer, from newbie to working pro. Highly recommended!"
--Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author of THE KING OF PLAGUES and PATIENT ZERO

"Finally! A book on writing category fiction, presented by those who do it every day. Choose a genre and jump right in."
--Mike Resnick, Nebula and Hugo Award-winning author

"MANY GENRES has everything you need to write and sell the book of your dreams. It is jam-packed with practical information, clear examples and brilliant insights, all delivered with clarity and wit. Skip the writers’ conference and read this gem from the masters of genre fiction!"
--Suzanne Forster, New York Times bestselling author

MANY GENRES, ONE CRAFT: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction (Headline Books, 2011)is an amazing anthology of instructional articles for fiction writers looking for advice on how to improve their writing and better navigate the mass market for genre novels.

Beatrice's Dream Finally Out!!!!

2011-03-17T12:45:00.000-07:00

After several setbacks due to changes in the publishing industry and then riots in Kenya, Beatrice's Dream, a Story of Kibera Slum is a reality, at least book-wise.

This is a photo essay picture book which I wrote while visiting Nairobi on a school visit. I had the opportunity to work with photographer Wendy Stone and was able to spend time in Kibera slum, one of the largest slums in the world. There I met Beatrice, followed her through the day at school and after, and learned of her fears and hopes and dreams.

Find out more about this book at my website : www.karenlynnwilliams.com. Check out the book page and the teacher guide to lean more about Beatrice, the book and how it came to be.

Meet Beatrice and learn more about Kibera.

Being Grandma in Taiwan- the Year of the Rabbit

2011-02-25T08:22:00.000-08:00

I Just returned from 2 weeks in Taiwan where I met my grandson, Ethan for the the first time. He is 7 months old and already the smartest, cutest grand baby there ever was :-).

Some highlights of my trip included getting to feed Ethan, eating meals prepared by my daughter-in-law, Sandra and her mom. More eating at hot pot and Japanese barbeque restaurants. More eating at these joints where you catch and cook your own shrimp.

We also got the go to the lantern festival, the Taipei International Flower Show and the pottery museum.

Four Feet Two Sandals Nominated!

2011-02-25T07:05:00.000-08:00

NEWS

February 1, 2011
The California Young Reader Medal is proud to announce the NOMINEES for the 2011-2012 California Young Reader Medals. Printer-Friendly Version

August 1, 2010
2010-2011 RESOURCE GUIDE

2010-2011 OFFICIAL BALLOT

The California Young Reader Medal program encourages recreational reading of popular literature among the young people of our state. Since its inception in 1974, millions of California children have nominated, read, and voted for the winners of the California Young Reader Medal.

Young people suggest the names of favorite books for nomination, or teachers and librarians note repeatedly read or requested titles, and these are submitted to the California Young Reader Medal Committee. Members of the committee read the suggested books, discuss their merits and appeal to children, and then decide upon a well-balanced list of nominees.

The CYRM logo was created by artist Kathleen Womble at the request of Becca Watchman, one of the founders of the California Young Reader Medals Both women were employed by the Lucia Mar Unified School District in Arroyo Grande, California.

2010-2011 Nominees

Printer-Friendly Version of 2010-2011 Nominees (.pdf)

Sponsorship
The CYRM program is sponsored by four statewide organizations committed to books and reading:

California Association of Teachers of English (CATE)
California Library Association (CLA)
California Reading Association (CRA)
California School Library Association (CSLA)
A committee of representatives from each organization coordinates CYRM activities at the state level. The committee develops a promotional packet about the program and provides all the materials needed for participation. These materials include the ballots, nomination forms, and nominee lists.

Nomination and Voting
To be considered for nomination, a book must be an original work of fiction published within the last four years by a living author. Recommendations for nomination are due each year by April 1 for consideration as a nominee the following year. It is a two-year cycle from the time of nomination by students to the presentation of the California Young Reader Medal to the winning authors (and illustrators in the Primary and Picture Books for Older Readers categories).

Books are nominated for the medal in five categories:

Primary (Grades K - 3)
Intermediate (Grades 3 - 6)
Middle School/junior High (Grades 6 - 9)
Young Adult (Grades 9 - 12)
Picture Books for Older Readers (4th Grade and up)
Students may read and vote for books in any and all categories, but they must read all the books nominated in a category to be eligible to vote. Students read the nominated books from July through March and vote for their favorite. Teachers and librarians introduce the nominees to students, often in exciting and innovative ways. They provide ballots for the students, compile vote totals, and submit results to the CYRM committee.

All CYRM ballots must be postmarked by April 1 of each year.

Award Winners and Ceremonies
The authors (and illustrators in the Primary and Picture Books for Older Readers categories) of the winning books receive their California Young Reader Medal awards at special ceremonies held annually at the state conferences of each sponsoring organization. Local students are selected to present the CYRM bronze medals to the winners.

2010-2011 Ceremonies:

CATE:
February 2011 (Young Adult)
CLA:
November 12-15, 2010 - Sacramento (Primary)
CRA:
November 15-16, 2010 - Riverside (Middle School and Picture Books for Older Readers)
CSLA:
November 12-15, 2010 - Sacramento (Intermediate)

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Updated 1/31/11
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More Good Things for Beach Tail and Sangoel!

2011-02-14T19:47:00.000-08:00

It is an honor to have one of my books associated with Charlotte Zolotow. I grew up with her in my writing life. A Beach Tail has been selected as a Highly Commended this year.

The 2011 Zolotow Award committee also cited six titles as Highly
Commended: "A Beach Tail," written by Karen Lynn Williams and
illustrated by Floyd Cooper (Boyds Mills Press); "Chavela and the Magic
Bubble," written by Monica Brown and illustrated by Magaly Morales
(Clarion Books / Houghton Mifflin Harcourt); "I Am a Backhoe," written
and illustrated by Anna Grossnickle Hines (Tricycle Press / Crown
Publishing Group / Random House Children’s Books); "Little Black Crow,"
written and illustrated by Chris Raschka (Atheneum / Simon & Schuster);
"My Garden," written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes (Greenwillow /
HarperCollins); and "Willoughby & the Moon," written and illustrated by
Greg Foley (Balzer & Bray / HarperCollins).

Established in 1998, the Charlotte Zolotow Award honors the work of
Charlotte Zolotow, a distinguished children's book editor for 38 years
with Harper Junior Books, and author of more than 70 picture books,
including such classic works as "Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present,"
(Harper, 1962) and "William's Doll" (Harper, 1972). Ms. Zolotow attended
the University of Wisconsin in Madison on a writing scholarship from
1933 to 1936, where she studied with Professor Helen C. White. The award
is given annually for outstanding writing in a picture book for children
in the birth through seven age range published in the United States in
the preceding year.

Children's Africanan Book Awards

And My Name is Sangoel is listed in the Anansi collection of Picture books by CABA -Children's Africana Book Awards.

Sangoel is also featured in a poster of postcards of Noteworthy books for children about Africa.

To celebrate the 20th year of the Children’s Africana Book Awards we are making special efforts to promote our favorite books nominated over the years that didn’t win our top awards.

The CABA Recommends 2010 post card introduces a new category Noteworthy 2010. I am pleased to inform you that My Name is Sangoel is featured here. The post cards will be widely distributed at conferences, bookseller and outreach events leading up to the 3-day celebration of the 2011 award ceremony and author events in November at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, the Library of Congress Young Readers Center and the annual meeting of the African Studies Association.

Our Website and Newsletter are also promoting our backlist of great books on Africa in The Anansi Collection of Picture Books and The Sankofa Collection of Chapter Books. You’ll find My Name is Sangoel again listed in the Anansi Collection.

Africa Access is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) educational association. Since 1989 we have been working to expand American perspectives on Africa. Our primary goal is to improve the selection and use of accurate, balanced materials on Africa in schools, public libraries, and other institutions that serve children. Africa Access provides consulting services for K-12 educators and writers who are creating materials on Africa. We help writers locate African Studies scholars who can evaluate manuscripts and provide important feedback and suggestions. Requests for consulting services should be sent to AfricaAccess@aol.com

Harriet McGuire
Media Relations & Marketing
Africa Access / Children's Africana Book Awards
www.AfricaAccessReview.org <http://www.africaaccessreview.org/>
703.549-8208 / if busy call 703.298-9759
harrietmcguire@earthlink.net

Beach Tail recognized again!

2011-02-01T12:09:00.000-08:00

A Beach Tail has been selected for the 2011 Texas 2x2 list!

2011 Texas 2 x 2 Reading List

Welcome! The 2X2 Committee‘s charge is to produce a list of 20 recommended books for children, age two to grade two. You can help with our statewide promotion of the reading list by introducing it in the following locations: • Public libraries • School libraries • Primary care facilities • Day care centers • Early childhood centers • Hospitals • Women, Infant and Children (WIC) sites • Health Department Clinics • Head Start locations.

The master list books, all recommended by one or more reviewing sources, should be evaluated in terms of each library’s selection policy. It is not mandatory that a school or public library purchase all titles listed.

Williams, Karen Lynn. A Beach Tail. Illustrated by Floyd Cooper. Boyds Mills Press.

ISBN-13: 978-1-59-078712-0. $17.95. Ages 4-8. When his father tells him not to leave the lion he is drawing on the beach, a little boy starts making a very, very long tail – and a trail to follow back.

AND if you want to see what Aidan who is 7 has to say about this adventure in a book check out:http://www.patzietlowmiller.com

And check it out! Gregory and his lion's tail go on TV in connecticut!

http://authorkatiedavis.blogspot.com/2011/01/teaching-independence-through-books.html

Going stir crazy in the snow? Find the perfect drawing stick and make your own animal in the snow or practice writing your name. Pretend you are at the beach! Bring a blanket. Have a snow picnic.

A beach tail is my most recent book(Although Beatrice's Dream will be out this month) So while you wait for Beatrice, check out my first book, Galimoto published in 1990. Still going strong in paper back. But if you want a hardcover copy signed by the author, I have five hundred copies sitting in my attic. I am hoping they do not fall through the ceiling!

See where Galimotos can take you! Watch this video. Not such a stretch from wire toys to giant animals made of PCV pipe that roam the beaches of Holland. What a Beach Tail this is! I love the possibilities and the connections! Watch this video, read Galimoto and see what you can build.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSKyHmjyrkA&feature=emailGalimoto

And that termite mound that Kondi visits when he is looking for wire? In When AFrica Was Home, Peter uses these giant structures like a gym set. See how clever those insects are.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNwpbNm7gKU&feature=channel

Still stir crazy with snow? Build a termite mound out of snow. Climb up it. Slide down it. Live inside it. Think termite mound to igloo.

PS. Still winter crazy? Forget about that Ground hog and celebrate the year of the Rabbit! Happy Chinese New Year. Make a cupcake to celebrate. See what we had for dessert when a neighbor had a Chinese New year Party this week.

Try this or build a snow rabbit. OR draw one in the snow.

I am on my way to Taiwan where my grandson Ethan is celebrating the New Year now. Can't wait. I will read him all my books even though he is only 6 months old.

A Beach Tail in Winter becomes a Winter's Tale

2011-01-03T21:12:00.000-08:00

My daughter-in-law told me she is mentoring a

child. He picked A Beach Tail from a stack of books because the child on the cover looked like him.

After they read the book they were out in the snow. He found a stick and began drawing in the snow, just like Gregory from the book does at the beach in the sand.

Now why didn't I make that connection???

I need to add the idea to my Teacher Guide Page and make A Beach Tail a year around book. Although I guess there are people always going to the beach somewhere in the world :-) even when it is winter where I am.

When there is snow on the mountains it is time for story telling in the hogan with a warm fire, stories of First Man and First Woman, the twins and Spider Woman. Time for Fire Dances and Yabeche. Healing dances around bonfires in the night until dawn lasting nine days. With a break for the holidays my loom is nearly half way full of simple Navajo weaving in stripes. My first rug. And in the sweat lodge I made new friends lulled into community peace by chanting.

Holiday greetings

2010-12-21T14:33:00.000-08:00

What a lovely email I got for the holiday, from a stranger.

Dear Karen,
I’ve been meaning to email you for months, but life has gotten in the way. During this holiday season, I’m trying to say thanks to people who have impacted my life in some way, so here I am finally emailing.

When I discovered your books I was so excited. I checked every one of them out of the library and read them with my kids (8 and 5). As a person who has lived and traveled in developing countries, your books touch on so many issues that are near and dear to my heart. They are the kind of books I try to write and aspire to have published some day. Thank you for being a role model for me.

Last summer, I posted about A Beach Tail on my blog. I thought you might like to read it. I’m sorry I didn’t send the link to you before now. http://michellecusolito.blogspot.com/2010/08/beach-tail.html Thank you for writing the lovely text that inspired Floyd Cooper’s wonderful art.

Happy Holidays.

Please do see her web page. And best wishes to everyone for the holidays and New Year.

Beatrice's Dream Pub Date in February

2010-12-12T08:51:00.000-08:00

Just got my first copy of BEATRICE'S DREAM in the mail yesterday. It has been a long time coming. I worked on this book while I was in Kenya in 2003 with photographer Wendy Stone. I spent a week following Beatrice around the huge slum, Kibera. This is where she lives, goes to school and visits with her friends. But Beatrice has a dream and this lovely quiet girl is a young woman now on her way to making the dream come true.

Many thanks to Wendy who made this book happen and to Beatrice who shared her life. See Wendy's website, http://www.wendystone.com/ and watch my website, www.karenlynnwilliams.com and this blog for updates on Beatrice and more about the book with teacher guides to come.

Fall on the Mesa

2010-11-21T09:38:00.000-08:00

Well into autumn in Chinle with some warm sunny days and cold evenings and mornings with occasional wind storms that blow red dust across the land scape and leave me with grit in my teeth and eyes. Dark comes early but the rose and indigo sunsets that fill the sky are worth the early nightfall.

Creation stories are told only in the winter but with snow on distant mountains it is time. I went to a string story telling in the hospital hogan. With a fire in the stove it was warm and toasty. My "many stars" sting design still needs work. Can't quite make my fingers work or remember the finger moves but I can see the appeal cosy and relaxing.

Autumn has also found me on the Hopi Mesa buying Kchina dolls, Standin' on the Corner in Winslow Arizona walking in the Little Painted Desert at sunset and watching a bull roping.

The Sky is my Ocean

2010-11-08T10:11:00.000-08:00

The sky is my ocean, the mesa my beach...... So the high dessert is becoming home.

But part of me will always be a beach person. See what the blog Drawrite has to say about A BEACH TAIL:

Ages 3-6 Drawrite blog

I pick books the way most children would – by looking at the cover. Children are extremely perceptive. They notice, observe and pick up faster than most adults. I think books done for them have to be especially mindful and thoughtful.

One such book is ‘A Beach Tail’. It is about a little boy, Greg, who draws a tailless lion on a beach and calls it Sandy. With specific instructions from his dad to not go in the water and to not leave Sandy, he draws a tail. He draws and he draws. He circles a jellyfish and passes a sand castle; he zigzags around a horse shoe crab and around a tiny ghost crab; he writes his name and realizes that he has gone too far. Yet, he didn’t go in the water and he didn’t leave Sandy.

Written by Karen Lynn Williams and illustrated by Floyd Cooper, the spirit of the story is wonderful and the pictures, stellar. This is probably one of the best examples of pastels work I have ever seen!

AND I WOULD ADD, I LOVE THE WAY FLOYD HAS CAPTURED THE FEEL OF THE BEACH. SAND EVERYWHERE. Oh yes the Beach. Here in Chinle, red dust dances in little dervishes across the landscape.

A Beach Tail from the Mesa

2010-10-20T09:08:00.000-07:00

I am struck by the similarities this photo taken on the beach has to the Mesa, my new home.

And here is another great review for A Beach Tail. From Libraryvoice.org. I love that this review mentions they way Floyd captures the beach sand feel through out the book...you can feel the texture.

Book Review: A BEACH TAIL

A Beach Tail written by Karen Lynn Williams, illustrated by Floyd Cooper

Boyds Mills Press, 2010

Recommended for ages 3 to 5

Gregory and his dad are spending the day at the beach together. Swish-swoosh, up lap the waves onto the sand. Gregory draws a Sandy Lion, with a full mane, four chubby legs, a happy face. His father gently reminds him of the beach rules; “Don’t go in the water and don’t leave Sandy.” On the pages that follow, Greg draws in Sandy’s tail which leads him down the beach, past a purple jellyfish, a sandcastle, a horseshoe crab, and other amazing discoveries on the sand. While getting further and further away from his father under the blue umbrella, Greg never goes in the water and the growing, twisting, curving tail ensures that he never leaves Sandy.

Cooper’s art is gorgeous. Using pastels in beachy taupes, browns, soft purples and blues, he creates a textured effect that defines both the setting and the main character. In this way, the environment and the boy are visually united. Greg and his surroundings are rendered in a subtle soft-focus, which when combined with Cooper’s ability to create a breathtaking balance of shadow and light, lends the overall experience an almost tactile, sensual quality.

There is a double-page spread that features Greg leaning down to inspect a new creature. His face tilts up to look toward the viewer. Sunlight reflects off of the top of his head and is captured twinkling on grains of sand stuck to the side of his chin. There is a slight blending between the borders of Greg and the sand around him, which reminded me of Peter McCarty’s luminous Hondo and Fabian books.

I loved how child-focus the story and art remained throughout A Beach Tail. I know a mom who was initially concerned about a young child being portrayed as straying so far from his parent (and so close to the dangerous ocean.) As a parent, that must be an unsettling, even terrifying, feeling. For the child reader, however, this bit of brief independence and even slight mischievousness (Greg definitely knew he was pushing the limits of his father’s second rule) is where adventure happens. It is only by breaking away from his dad that Greg can indulge his curiosity and discover remarkable creatures and objects on the beach. And yet, he is still tied to the security of his father through Sandy’s tail.

This perfectly balanced depiction of independence and safety is exactly what so many preschoolers and kindergartner’s crave. They want to be a big kid and have adventures. But, it is still important to know that their grownup will be there at the end of the day to welcome them home and keep them safe.

Mesa Musings

2010-10-08T15:15:00.000-07:00

MY LIFE NOW

More lists that could turn into writing:

What they say:

They say don’t drink the water here.

They say the water is fine

They say there is recycling here.

They say do not drive after dark.

You could hit a cow.

They say it is fine to drive after dark
(just don’t hit a cow).

They say there is no recycling here.

They say there are rattle snakes

In the mesa where I walk in the evenings.

They say the weather is unusual for this time of year.

They say they have had a lot of rain.

They say it is much greener than usual.

They say they close Buffalo Pass in winter and

The snow is as deep as I am tall.

They might plow one side in the winter but the other side?

If they plow it, by nightfall it will be as slick like a slide.

They say it is always like this, this time of year cool evenings, hot days, but so clear, not like Phoenix.

They say to shop in Flagstaff, it is better there

Target, Trader Joes, New Frontier(just like whole foods).

They say to shop in Gallop it is closer,

Gallop is a dangerous place, they say.

They say that in the windy season

You will not be able to see to drive,

Like a blizzard and the red dust will

Creep in through the cracks around doors

And windows and pile this high

(a hand to my waist).

They say you can’t plant sage or rabbit plant

In your yard but it grows all over the mesa and

Lowlands too. You can’t ever get enough root to make it

Grow in burst of yellow in your yard that is pure flat

Red dry dirt.

They say we are lucky to have a plot of grass

And now I feel guilty if it looks too dry

They say everyone is envious of my grass.

I will probably kill it and feel guiltier so we have to mow it with a weed whacker.

There is not enough grass in our yard for a mower but we are lucky.

They say it is dry here but I see beer cans and bottles and more cans and bottles everywhere broken and whole on the flat and on the mesa.

They say those are not crows you see everywhere but ravens.

And it rained yesterday, poured in the desert

And the mudslides closed the road to Flagstaff, unearthed a wrecked car, washed it down the mountain, no one even

knew it was there.

And today there are yellow flowers blooming around the apple tree in my yard (yes! We have an apple tree)

They call them sunflowers….very, very small sunflowers in the dessert.

They say you can hear the wind swishing through the trees in Buffalo Pass. The trees are huge there, evergreen.

They say it is only 30 minutes away even though it takes us an hour.

And you can see Ship Rock from there.

And wild purple asters.

Mesa glass

They sell the vanilla here behind the counter with the cigarettes

Because people use it to get high. And in the news paper reports A man found dead in his holding cell at Crownpoint Detention center after consuming two bottles of hand sanitizer and some prescription medication.

And the signs in the parking lot at the grocery store say “Help our neighborhood. Do not give to the panhandlers.”

And you must walk the gauntlet of beggars to get into the store and then you must walk it again to get out. You with your full shopping cart, piled with bags. But you can point to the sign and say “No I am not supposed to give you money.”

I have this necklace. I need $20 gas money. It is always for gas for the pick up to drink.

And even the man who works at the meat counter at Basha’s market tells the stumbling man who reeks of alcohol , YOU are not hungry. You need to go home.

In the grocery store there is spam, aisles of spam piled high, so many different kinds of spam and my husband thinks of Monty Python and I think we used to eat spam when I was a kid.

And cow food and horse feed and goat food and sheep feed.

A bag of parrot food? But no birdseed for my feeder.

And they sell empty burlap bags here and I like that, think I might buy one as soon as I know what I want it for or maybe just get it because I will find a use and my grandmother used to use them though I can’t remember what for.

They call us Belegana (or that is what is sounds like) so I stand out with my full shopping cart, a foreigner.

I roll the name around on my tongue, not sure how I like it. The sound is nice but I am not sure of the meaning yet.

Yes it is dry here and hot in the middle of the day but cool in the mornings and the evenings.

The moon is full now and the sky so clear. Huge and blue by day and when the sun sets the Mesa is orange fire and cones of

White sun stretch out across blue sky and you know where the stylized designs for the sun come from in Native American Art.

And rainbows too reach across the sky.

I walk in the mesa after a day and night of pounding rain and I stoop to pick up glass. Smooth bits of glass like beach glass, mostly green bits and the smaller ones are smoother and I realize that the desert sand like the beach sand can smooth the glass, glass that comes from sand. Even here in the dessert washed by rain and smoothed by sand and there is a connection for me who loves the beach here where there is no beach but perhaps there was once an ocean. I am learning the land.

And there another piece and another. And I know the glass comes from bottles broken up here in the Mesa where they come to drink in this land that is dry.

But I collect the glass the tiniest pieces that are smooth and I have something I can begin to collect and something that is mine, something that is me. Mesa glass like beach glass.

My pockets are full and my pants sag with bits of glass and rock until I am startled by rattling sound and think Rattlesnake! when I realize it is the glass, mesa glass rattling in my pocket.

Makes me laugh.

MY NAME IS SANGOEL still going Strong

2010-09-28T08:19:00.000-07:00

Nice to see that there are discriminating young readers out there. See the IRA Children's Choices for 2010. October 2010 issue. Little Sangoel holds his own with Ben Reothlisberger. There are heroes and there are heroes!

Beach Tail gets Caldecott Hype!!!!

2010-09-27T09:06:00.000-07:00

Check out this site. Like they say a long shot but nice to dream.... Keeps a writer going to know that the work is being recognized. I imagine it is great for the illustrator too. I was delighted from the beginning of this project to know Floyd would be the illustrator. My book When Africa Was Home was one of his early works. Here is a shout out to Floyd and A Beach Tail.

http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/?p=1999

Getting here

2010-09-16T13:25:00.000-07:00

After a week of traveling west, visiting friends old and new and hiking along the way we spent the last night before the movers came camped out on the floor in sleeping bags.

Our new Home and the things we carry with us

2010-09-16T13:06:00.000-07:00

The things we carry with us (or not).

Dust form the old home.

Mouse poop???

The keys to the house of a good friend.

The directions to the new garage door opener, the one in PA.

Fancy pants cloths and heels..for the dessert?

NO flyswatter.

Enough warm cloths? (who knew it got this cold in the dessert?)

And I can't find the spaghetti strainer anywhere. A resourceful student suggests hammering nails into a plastic container to make holes.

And is it really possible to get lost in a three bedroom house all on one floor? I walk around in circles. And which shoes did I designate as indoor and which are for outdoor? I give up and who cares if a little red dirt is all over the house.

The very biggest advice anyone can give us and most often given without soliciting advice: DO NOT DRIVE AFTER DARK. It seems everyone has hit a free range cow at least once.

It all seems very foreign and barren and beautiful all at once. Much to discover and explore.

On the Move

2010-08-18T07:29:00.000-07:00

We are in the crazy state of cleaning, sorting, throwing away and selling(big garage sale a success). AND PACKING.

Steve and I move to Chinle Arizona on September 1. We expect to arrive on September 7 and hope that are movers have arrived then too.

Our new contact info:

karen@karenlynnwilliams.com

Mailing address: PO Box 1932 Chinle, AZ 86503

House Street #: 2085.1 Codetalker's Lane

House Phone #: 928 674 8296

I can still be reached at: kwilliams@chatham.edu and kwilliams@setonhill.edu. I will continue to teach on line for these programs.

Updates to come soon.

2010-08-12T06:24:00.000-07:00

Williams Writes - The Blog of Karen Lynn Williams

Beatrice's Dream chosen by USBBY for 2012 outstanding international book list

USBBY Outstanding International Books 2012 - News from the Fenn ...

Undocumented Immigrants and one little book

Why I Write: to connect with one reader

Another Navajo Day: It's All Material

Stuff I Collect: Earrings

Interview with the Author...ME!

Remembering Haiti

More about Resolutions for a Better Writing Life

MANY GENRES, ONE CRAFT -------- Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction: Many Genres One Craft Wins First Place at London Book Festival

Ten Resolutions to Make My Life and My Writing Better

Solstice Sunset

Stuff that Inspires

Writers Always Steal

Have snow shoes....Will Write

To Write a Picture Book

Peace Corps 50th Anniversary

Beatrice reviewed in Kirkus!

The writing? life

Beatrice go to the Netherlands and more

AZ SCBWI 2011

Great School, Great Idea!

Prickly Pear Jam from the Canyon

Why I write for Children

A Beach Tail Now a Recorded Book

A Birthday and an Obituary

KINDERBOOKSWITHEVERYTHING

TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2011

22nd March Karen Lynn Williams (1952)

Dying wool in the canyon

Beatrice's Dream Reviewed by IBBY

One Thing I'm good At on E-books

One Thing I'm Good At

By Karen Lynn Williams

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

From Library Journal

More Awards and Connections

Critters on the Mesa

Writing Connections: A Good Question

Spring in Chinle

Many Genres One Craft

One Of A Kind New Book for Writers, Students, Teachers, Readers

Beatrice's Dream Finally Out!!!!

Being Grandma in Taiwan- the Year of the Rabbit

Four Feet Two Sandals Nominated!

More Good Things for Beach Tail and Sangoel!

Beach Tail recognized again!

A Beach Tail in Winter becomes a Winter's Tale

Holiday greetings

Beatrice's Dream Pub Date in February

Fall on the Mesa

The Sky is my Ocean

A Beach Tail from the Mesa

Book Review: A BEACH TAIL

Mesa Musings

MY NAME IS SANGOEL still going Strong

Beach Tail gets Caldecott Hype!!!!

Getting here

Our new Home and the things we carry with us

On the Move