Even if You Can't Get To the Beach

When I first began writing I just wanted to finish the book, a final draft, then I wanted to get it published.  Then I thought about seeing it a bookstore and in the LIBRARY!  Dare I hope to get fan mail?  Reviews?

One thing I never even imagined was the gratification that comes with seeing my own grandchildren read my books.   Here is two and a half year old Everett "reading"  A Beach Tail.  I am told he woke of from his nap and quietly picked the book out by himself.  He is having a summer beach adventure right in his own bedroom.  And I am shamelessly using him to promote this beach read for you this summer.

But if you cannot get to the beach, no worries.  Take your children or grandchildren on a journey to the park or back yard.  Draw your own lion or other creature in the dirt.  Give him a long tail and go on your own adventure around a tree, an ant hill, up the jungle gym, around the pond, up the hill.  Come back and tell the tale (or tail) of your own adventure. Make a sand drawing.  Look at what  the the students at Severn School did when I visited their school and they read A Beach Tail.

Beach or no beach,  enjoy the summer with a book!

Reading List For Participatory Citizenship: Four Feet Two Sandals

 

Literacy and NCTE

See What the NCTE (National Council of Teacher of English) Official Blog has to say about Four Feet Two Sandals:

Four Feet, Two Sandals
by Karen Lynn Williams and Khadra Mohammed 1-5

This book is a great way to introduce children to the realities of living in a refugee camp, why people are refugees, and then relate it to their own lives. A ten year old girl named Lina ends up sharing a pair of sandals with a girl named Feroza, since there are not enough sandals for everyone. These two characters experience the hardships of life in a refugee camp: waiting on long lines for water, the hard journey that brought them there, the fear for their futures, no access to education, among other obstacles. This is a book that will get children thinking about the hardships faced by people in other parts of the world.

See what other great books are on the list and start reading!

http://blogs.ncte.org/index.php/2017/05/reading-list-for-summer-in-participatory-citizenship/

BTW I will be at the NCTE 2017 National Convention in St. Louis in November!  Hope to see you there. 

Because You Asked: Update on Beatrice and Her Dreams

Many people have contacted me to ask about Beatrice now.   Here are some photos of Beatrice with her husband and daughter Ariel. 

Wendy Stone is the photographer who took the photos for the illustrations for the book.  You can see her work and learn more about Wendy at http://www.wendystone.com

Thanks for your interest and keep dreaming!