Tucson book Festival: Part two: Books alive and well

Imagine a school that greets you with a Mariachi Band! Note I do not have an instrument and I do not sing ;-). These kids were great. I want to dance!

A school with Acquabioponics in the library...my kind of place...I want one!

A school that is bilingual....REALLY Bilingual. I want to learn Spanish!

Attentive listeners...that author must be good;-)

And finally? It was all about books...thousands of people and there would have been more if they could have found a place to park...I guess that was a good thing...too many people coming together for books.

I even sold a few!

Beatrice Reviewed on Pirate Tree

Beatrice's Dream was reviewed on Pirate Tree

Check it out: http://www.thepiratetree.com/2012/03/08/beatrices-dream-a-story-of-kibera-slum/

And make sure you check back at this site regularly for reviews and good news. Thank you Nancy Bo Flood!

Tucson book Festival: Captains log: March 7, 2012

8:45 AM:

Leave Chinle in a dust

storm. Visibility poor.

8:52 Ganado. Left home with only half a tank of gas...still have a half of tank of gas.

I stop for gas.

Gas costs $3.59.

My dilemma. Map quest says turn left, GPS says go straight.

TMI.

I turn left.

9:16: I am in the middle of a snow storm even though the sign says, "High Dust Warning".

Note to self: should have followed the GPS directions.

9:41 Snow stops.

Signs for Wide Ruins.

I muse: This is the name of Famous Navajo rug design. Wish I were home weaving.

9:41- 11:32: Not much happens. I eat a lot of junk food.

11:32 Tank is down a 1/4.

Must stop for gas.

$4.19? Really????

Really!

11:32-2:21 Not much happens. Eat junk food.

Stop at every gas station .

Use rest room...often.

Low on coffee. Switch to diet Pepsi

Stock up on junk food.

More driving. Maybe I should have flown.

There really are places like:

and

They sell Gas!!!!

Next hour and a half: Mountains forever.

Good thing I have gas....and water...and junk food.

No rest rooms.

Many signs that say: Watch for falling Rocks.

Ya think?

Much time to contemplate. Should I drive fast so rocks will not fall on me? Or slow so I do not hit rocks?

GPS keeps recalculating my arrival time: Do they keep moving Tucson?..it takes longer and longer to get there.

Sometime mid afternoon: Cactus!

And Wildflowers.

4:15-ish: Tucson. Schools and Book Festival. Stay tuned.

More Good News About Beatrice!

Book Dragon, the blog of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific Program has good things to say about Beatrice's Dream.

Check out this review at http://bookdragon.si.edu/2012/03/03/beatrices-dream-by-karen-lynn-williams-photographs-by-wendy-stone/

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Some Schools go All Out!

It's not necessary to decorate your entire school to look like Africa or Haiti when I come. But some schools have done just that and more.

Early this month I visited

New Wilmington Elementary School tucked away behind the high school and the middle school in an Amish community in New Wilmington, PA.

Check out the amazing mural that greeted me as I walked in the door. The rays of sun and the green stalks of grass are formed from handprints of every student and teacher in the school. If you could see the tiny print you would know that every member of the school community also has their name on this amazing work of art inspired by several of my books.

But these teachers and students went beyond Africa. They recognized that the theme of several of my books has to do with recycling so everything used to make this unique work of art is recycled...I especially like the use of cereal boxes cut up for tusks and grass.

But that was not all! Look what greeted me on the stage where I was speaking in the all purpose room: A nearly life sized tap-tap with heads of the riders made out of paper bags. The wheels are vinyl...that's right the kind that some of us used to spin on record players.

Every classroom door was decorated around a theme or title from one of my books.

There were Galimotos made from all kinds of recycled and found objects all over the school.

It's not necessary but these dedicated teachers, administrators, librarians and parents know that you get so much more out of an author visit, the more you put into it.

At least one student proclaimed it would be an awesome day.

And it was!

Little Ol' Me! Tucson book Festival in March!

I have often asked myself, how did a nice girl like me end up in a place like this( think changing diapers by kerosene lamp in 110 degree heat while pregnant living at the end of a dirt road in Malawi). On the other hand I sometimes wonder Wow! How did little ol' me( think shy and withdrawn, afraid of my shadow) get HERE?

In two weeks I will have the honor to present at the Tucson festival of books with authors like Jack Gantos, Megan Mc Donald, Kadir Nelson, R.L Stine, Monica Brown, Jon Scieska and many others.

I will be speaking at area schools and at a mini conference at the University of Arizona. Check it all out at:

http://tucsonfestivalofbooks.org/author/genre

Little ol' me. If you live nearby(out west that means four hours away) come check it out.

Four Kids...Four Continents

When I used to tell my children I could be a rich and famous author if I didn't have so many kids, they would roll their eyes. "Mom, without us you wouldn't have anything to write about." They told friends, "Watch what you say. It can and will be used in a book."

Now my four children are all in different time zones. I don't even know what day they are living, forget what time it is. Their phone numbers are 12 digits long.

That curly-haired blond who does not believe home could be anywhere but Africa can only be Peter, the star of When Africa Was Home. He lives in Taiwan and my only grandchild, Ethan, is there too.

When I wrote First Grade King, Christopher said, "Mom! You can't steal my ideas like that!"

Chris was born in the Peace Corps in Malawi, the child who said he did not belong in this family "I don't do all this living abroad stuff." He currently lives with his wife Laurie in Mozambique. THEY are in the Peace Corps. I like the circle of life theme.

Rachel currently holds down the fort in Pittsburgh. But she knows for certain who the star of One Thing I'm Good At Is. I don't expect her to be there forever but it's nice to have one kid who is only two hours off my time. If I could only remember two hours which way.

Jon keeps asking when that book about him will come out. Editors are slow to snap that one up. In the meantime I keep writing. There's that first chapter with the the kid locked in the bathroom in high school. Problem is now he is down under in New Zealand. It is already tomorrow there.

All this makes things feel a little upside down for this writer mom. Am I really loosing all my material?

Of course I live in the Navajo Nation now...BTW, the rest of Arizona is in a different time zone than the rez. There is much to write about here but it is not going to make me rich or famous either.

Talk about leaving the nest. My chicks are migrating. For now the world is home. But it seems I got more writing done with four kids underfoot than I do when most of them are on the other side of the world.