20th Annual Colorado Book Awards!

Finalists in the 20th Annual Colorado Book awards will read at Baur's Ristorante, 1512 Curtis Street, Denver, CO 80202 on Friday June 10, beginning at 4:30pm.  Since  Magnus Maximus, A Marvelous Measurer is a finalist in the Children's Literature category, come and hear me reading a wee snippet.  Audience members can enjoy meeting many of the authors in this year's finalist list, ask them questions, buy signed copies of books, and enjoy an early Friday happy hour at a great downtown restaurant.

The Colorado Book Awards is one of the country's oldest book awards program. To view a complete finalist list, click here.

Winners will be announced on Friday, June 24 at 1pm at the Awards Ceremony , the culminating event for the Aspen Summer Words Writing Retreat and literary festival hosted by The Aspen Writers Foundation and The Aspen Institute.  Tickets are only $10 for the awards ceremony, which will be held at the Doerr-Hosier Center in Aspen, with global literati - including Dr. John Cole, the Director of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress in attendance.

Where do you get your ideas?

I get asked this question a lot, and so when  Charlesbridge (publisher of Raj) asked me to do a guest blog for them on their Unabridged, I wrote some thoughts on this, specifically as it relates to Raj the Bookstore Tiger. Check it out here and maybe you can discover your own "inner tiger."

Updates on Magnus Maximus a Marvelous Measurer

Magnus Maximus a Marvelous Measurer is a finalist for the Colorado Authors' League Awards.  The winners will be announced at the CAL Banquet on May 10.

Magnus is also a finalist for the Colorado Book Awards.  The award event will be held June 24, 2011 at Aspen Summer Words Literary Festival in Aspen.

Recent Visits

Cole Arts and Science Academy - Denver Public Schools

What exactly is inspiration?  Where does it come from?  How can we get more of it?  How long does it take to write a book?  How can stories change us and make us better people?  These were just some of the questions I explored with the 3rd and 4th graders of Cole Arts and Science Academy on my recent visit in my presentation on Inspiration

My favorite question from one of the students was, "How do you feel when you have finished a story?"  Ahh...the JOY of creating - what can be better than that?  Nothing!

Recent Visits

Children's Literature Class for student teachers at Regis University

It is always a pleasure to have the opportunity to share my passion for literature with student teachers.  And I have been a regular speaker at Anne Henderson's class at Regis University for the past several years.  Anne has heard my talk on Nurturing a Passion for Stories for so long, that she could probably do this presentation without me!  Not only do I talk about my own books that I have written, but I share stories from all my sixteen years at Loyola school, where I have been reading fairy tales and folk tales from around the world to the children from Kindergarten to 7th Grade.  And it is there that I see the truth of Jane Yolen's words - "Adult books maintain lives.  Children's books change lives."  And that is why, with the plethora of books out there, that all of us teachers, parents, grandparents, authors, need to choose which books we decide to read to our little ones.  They had better be the very best of the best, for indeed we are feeding little hearts and souls.

Recent Visits

Franklin Elementary School

A great visit with all the students at Franklin Elementary school!  We talked about the truth behind all of my stories - People will act, oftentimes, the way you expect them to act The Giant King 
 Love inspires us. Inventor McGregor
Not all things in life can or should be measured. Magnus Maximus a Marvelous Measurer
 And...great stories and books and poems make us all "burn bright!" Raj the Bookstore Tiger
We also talked about Vincent Van Gogh's beautiful painting Starry Night, because there are some "starry nights" in both my books, Magnus and Raj.  One of the students even knew told me that today (30th March) was Vincent Van Gogh's birthday - he knew because he shared the same birthday. 

Bank Street Best Books 2011

I am delighted to announce that Magnus Maximus, A Marvelous Measurer, illustrated by S.D. Schindler (FSG) has been selected as a Bank Street Best Book in the 5-9 age group.

What a wonderful list.  I am pleased to share the list with so many fine writers!  Educators who love this Bank Street list as much as I, can explore Magnus Maximus, A Marvelous Measurer further by downloading an Educator's Guide here.