Around the Web with OAV Authors: September 2017

Note: Please enjoy this rerun of last year’s Back to School post.

You already know that you can find our team’s individual profiles right here on the OAV site. You can also find links to their websites in the right-hand sidebar of every OnlineAuthorVisits.com page. We try to make it easy for schools, libraries, and other groups to get to know us so you can select the right publishing pro(s) for your important virtual events.

So, for this Back to School edition of “Around the Web,” we thought we’d make it even easier to connect with our authors and author-illustrators by rounding up direct links to each OAVer’s primary public social media pages. Think: Facebook author pages, Twitter profiles, and writing blogs. You’re on your own for Instagram, Google+ Pinterest, Tumblr, Goodreads, YouTube, and others — but do let your fingers do the typing in those platforms’ search fields. You will get OAV-member results!

Ready? Let’s go!

Row 1, L to R: Patrick Jennings, Janet Lee Carey, Joan Holub, Dia Calhoun. Row 2: Dori Hillestad Butler, Lisa L. Owens, Trudi Trueit, Suzanne Williams, Deb Lund. Row 3: Erik Brooks, Clare Hodgson Meeker, Laurie Ann Thompson, Dana Sullivan, David Patneaude. (Missing: Dori Jones Yang.)

 

Dori Jones Yang (author): Facebook page, Twitter, blog

Dori Jones Yang

Suzanne Williams (author): Goddess Girls series Facebook page

Trudi Trueit (author): Facebook page, Twitter

Laurie Ann Thompson (author): Facebook page, Twitter, blog

Dana Sullivan (author-illustrator): Twitter, blog

David Patneaude (author): Twitter, blog

Lisa L. Owens (author): Twitter, blog

Clare Hodgson Meeker (author): Facebook page, Twitter, blog

Deb Lund (author): Facebook page, Twitter, blogs

Patrick Jennings (author): Twitter, blog

Joan Holub (author-illustrator): Facebook page, Goddess Girls series Facebook page, Twitter, blog

Janet Lee Carey (author): Facebook page, Twitter, blog 1, blog 2

Dia Calhoun (author): Twitter, blog

Dori Hillestad Butler (author): Twitter, blog

Erik Brooks (author-illustrator): Facebook page, Twitter, blog

Martha Brockenbrough (author): Facebook page, Twitter, blog

That covers the whole crew!

And, while you’re out and about taking a peek at our wonderful team’s various profiles, don’t forget to connect with OAV’s official Facebook page. We’d love to see — and hear from you — there!

 

 

Around the Web with OAV Authors: July 2017

Our latest roundup of OAVer cyber sightings is best described as a virtual Cool Covers Show-and-Tell, featuring images from our talented members’ publication histories that make you want to dive into all the books!

This striking cover is from Trudi Trueit’s extensive nonfiction list.

 

Here’s the adorable cover of a chapter book from author-illustrator Patrick Jennings.

 

How about this beauty covering a novel by Dori Jones Yang. (It’s brand-spanking NEW, by the way — the book comes out next month.)

 

This covers the German edition of Martha Brockenbrough’s The Game of Love and Death.

 

The cover of this picture book by Deb Lund is a monstrous delight.

 

Lisa L. Owens counts this piece of cover art from her retold-classics series as a fave.

 

Video alert! Watch author-illustrator Erik Brooks preview his picture book Polar Opposites. (Naturally, he starts with the cover!)

 

Here’s the spooky-cute cover of a picture book by OAV’s founder, Suzanne Williams.

 

An evocative entry from a reprint edition of a David Patneaude novel.

 

What an engaging image on Clare Hodgson Meeker’s retelling of a classic Buddhist folktale.

 

This stunner is from one of Dia Calhoun’s novels.

 

Dana Sullivan created a darling illustration for the cover of Digger and Daisy Go to the Zoo, shown here on the book’s French edition.

 

Audio alert! A YouTube reading of Janet Lee Carey’s Wenny Has Wings features a sweetly spare cover image. (Note: To listen to the reading, you’ll need to head on over to YouTube, an option you’ll see and be able to click on in the lower right when you view the file embedded below.)

 

The photo on this Dori Hillestad Butler novel really sets the scene for the story to come.

 

This early reader by Joan Holub sports a fun depiction of the Woodstock setting.

 

And, finally, here’s another perfect representation of the story within, this time on a sweet picture book by Laurie Ann Thompson.

 

That covers all of us here at Online Author Visits!

Reminder: The back-to-school season is right around the corner — so be sure to check out our Author Profiles page to learn more about hosting an illustrious OAVer for a future Skype visit in your classroom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Around the Web with OAV Authors: May 2017

How about another themed edition of our “Around the Web” feature, this time with a Throwback Thursday flavor. Our Online Author Visits members are always busy creating new works, but their earlier ones are just as fun to discover (or rediscover, as the case may be). The following roundup offers a clickable gem from each OAVer’s storied past!

Erik Brooks wrote and illustrated The Practically Perfect Pajamas, an adorable picture book about being true to yourself. It came out in 2000, and one teacher reviewer noted that it’s a perfect read-aloud for Pajama Day at school!

Kirkus called Dia Calhoun’s 1999 YA novel Firegold (her first!), “A heartfelt, emotionally trenchant coming-of-age adventure with a lightly mystical bent.”

Speaking of first novels, Patrick Jennings published Faith and the Electric Dogs in 1996, and Publishers Weekly said he took “a soaring flight into magic realism in this captivating tale narrated with brio by a Mexican street dog.”

For the October 2011 issue of Odyssey magazine, Laurie Thompson wrote the super-fun science article “Wanted for Breaking the Law (of Viscosity).” (It’s about non-Newtonian fluids. Activity included!)

Visit Dori Jones Yang’s website to learn the story of her collaboration with Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz on their popular 1997 business book, Pour Your Heart Into It.

Did you know that Martha Brockenbrough wrote a humorous book chronicling her pregnancy (and more) in 2002? It’s called It Could Happen to You: Diary of a Pregnancy and Beyond.

Here’s where you can find Suzanne Williams’s first-ever book, Mommy Doesn’t Know My Name. It launched in 1996, and according to School Library Journal, “It’s a fun, crazy book that works extremely well.”

Clare Hodgson Meeker’s lovely picture book Who Wakes Rooster? was a 1997 Bank Street College Book of the Year selection.

Talon, published in 2007, was the first novel in Janet Lee Carey’s Wilde Island Chronicles series.

Dori Hillestad Butler is known for her mystery series. Check out her 2003 nonfiction title Whodunit: How the Police Solve Crimes for a glimpse at a real-world process that informs her work.

In 1995, Booklist said, “Readers too young for Stephen King will find satisfaction” in David Patneaude’s eerie book Dark Starry Morning: Stories of This World and Beyond.

Former weather forecaster Trudi Trueit wrote Storm Chasers — one of her many, MANY informational titles — back in 2002.

Deb Lund published the sweet Tell Me My Story, Mama in 2004. Visit her author site for help tracking down a copy for a young one you know who’s about to become a sibling for the first time.

This looks like lots of fun: a 2004 picture book by Joan Holub called Geogra-Fleas! Riddles All Over the Map.

Click over to Lisa L. Owens’s website, then scroll down to see Booklist’s turn-of-the-21st-century comments on American Justice: Seven Famous Trials of the 20th Century.

And here you’ll find info on 2013’s BOB Books: Rhyming Words boxed set featuring Dana Sullivan’s always fetching illustration work.

That covers our whole crew. If you’d like to learn more about our members and consider booking one of us for a virtual or in-person visit, be sure to check out our Author Profiles page.

Happy #TBT, everyone — hope to see you again soon!

 

 

 

A Creativity Tsunami

 

It’s easy to think there’s nothing we can do that will make a difference in the tsunami of suffering and hatred that bombards us, whether the cause of that tsunami is external or internal.

But there are creative ways we can all make a difference.

As children’s book creators, teachers, parents, and as all people (because we’re all creative)…

 

Your acts of creativity, your willingness and passion for sharing your gifts, and your concern for young people is a good place to begin.

 

 

 

 

 

I can hear you now. “But I don’t have any talent!” or maybe you’re the one thinking, “Yes, I create, but it’s just for me.” Or this—

“I’m just a teacher, not an artist.”

 

Creativity is not talent. Creativity is a problem-solving practice.

Everyone is creative.

From dinner plans to business plans, we create on a daily basis. Being creative is an action, not an inborn trait. It’s about keeping your mind open, seeing possibilities, mashing together unlike objects to form something new.

Creativity rarely happens all at once. It’s a process, but it’s one that doesn’t always look or act the same.

Sometimes we get an idea and then either knowingly or unknowingly identify it with previous experiences. At this point, we might not have a clue where the idea will lead us. Often, we don’t quite get to the next step—discovering which qualities from those past experiences will transform the idea into something new.

And when we don’t make that connection, we call it failure.

That’s wrong. Creativity requires risk, perseverance, and a willingness to fail.

That’s where you need to change your story. Not a story you may be writing, but the story you may be telling yourself.

I’ve had lots of those stories. I attribute them to Miss Midge, my inner critic.

 

I was 25 when I first submitted a manuscript. It was rejected. I didn’t send anything in again for 15 years, using the near-universal belief “I don’t have time to write.” But then, as a pregnant 40-year-old, I knew I’d never have time, so I began. My husband would laugh at how I celebrated rejection letters. I gave myself a new belief, which was that each rejection meant I was a step closer to finding a home for the manuscript.

It’s like checking off a list. We just don’t know how many items are on that list until the end arrives. You need to hold out until you reach that unknown quota.

So how does creativity make a difference?

Creativity promotes wellbeing. We gain satisfaction from seeing what we’ve created, which helps to foster and maintain a positive outlook.

Just think what we could do with more of that!

But it’s not just about us. And that’s not all creativity can do.

 

Creativity opens minds and hearts. It increases understanding, confidence, collaboration, and empathy. It creates communities and lays the groundwork for making a difference in the world. And it’s contagious.

Creativity breeds more creativity.

We model art through our creative actions, which can inspire others to do the same. The problems we deal with need creative solutions. Practicing and promoting creativity inspires out-of-the-box problem solvers.

So, where do we start? At the beginning! We need to ensure that creativity is a valued part of our education system. But just how do we help students claim their creative birthright and be the problem solvers we so desperately need?

First of all, we give them basic skills, knowledge, materials, and activities that strengthen creativity. Then we encourage risk-taking and confidence. Oh, and along with that, they’ll need safe places to develop their own ideas and harness their own passions. In other words, we need to actually teach them techniques, tools, and applications of creative expression, and then get out of their way so they can take leaps and reach heights we can’t imagine.

Because it’s their imagination, their creativity, their ideas and expression that will solve our problems.

Along with that, of course, we need to give teachers the tools they’ll need to facilitate teaching creativity. They need workshops, strategies, models, and mentors. They’ve weathered enough and need a little creativity to solve the current educational issues. Let’s get out of their way, too.

The tsunami is real, but we who commit time and energy to nurturing creativity will help change the tide. Ripples can make waves. With enough of us, we could start our own creativity tsunami.

Who’s with me?

Where and when will you start?

******

GIVEAWAY: Leave a comment to enter a raffle for your chance to win one of two FREE picture books from Deb Lund! One lucky commenter will receive Dinosailors, and another will receive All Aboard the Dinotrain. The contest will close May 31, 2017.

Around the Web with OAV Authors: March 2017

This edition of “Around the Web” is focused on online sightings of our member authors doing one of the things they love best: talking with young readers about books and writing.

Check out this Rogues Gallery of OAVers in action! And if you’re interested in booking one of us for your next virtual or in-person event, head on over to our Author Profiles page to learn more and see which author might be a good fit for your group.

Around the Web with OAV Authors: January 2017

Happy 2017, readers! It’s time for our first “Around the Web” post of the new year. We hope you enjoy this roundup of a few random OAV-member sightings online. You just never know WHAT cool tidbits you might find stored up there in the cyberspace attic.

Dori Jones Yang poses by the poster announcing her November 2016 author talk in Beijing

Anyone wishing to keep up with Dori Jones Yang’s latest happenings can easily do so by subscribing to the “What’s New” RSS feed on her author site.

“The Calm Before the Storm,” a recent guest post by Deb Lund, offers inspiration for writers participating in this month’s Storystorm idea-generation event. Her advice also applies to just about any creative endeavor you may be pursuing, so don’t miss it!

Animal and story lovers will enjoy Patrick Jennings’s “Beasts,” a fun roundup of “Likely, though not necessarily confirmed, facts about the animal kingdom as relayed by a children’s fiction writer, a.k.a., a professional teller of stories to kids.”

Here, Dori Hillestad Butler reminisces about the special teacher who started her on the path to becoming the writer she is today. Her touching post will hit home with both adults and kids.

Budding author Dori Hillestad Butler in Grade 6

That’s it for this month’s collection efforts. To learn more about all of our wonderful author members — and to consider booking one of us to give a Skype or in-person talk for your classroom, library, or other event — be sure to check out the updated Online Author Visits Author Profiles page, where you’ll find each member’s bio, presentation terms, and contact information.

Good News from the Online Author Visits Team!

Skype school visits have been a terrific way for author/illustrator Erik Brooks to expand the participation in his Presidential Polar Bear Post Card Project. After some terrific in-person conversations in Boston at ILA, Erik just did his first PPBPC Skype visit of the new school year with a fantastic group of second graders in Maryville, TN. You can read about it on the classroom blogspot here. With much thanks to teachers Alyson and Courtney for the awesome write up!

Erik also has a new cover reveal for his fist board book project, If I Were a Whale by Shelley Gill (Little Bigfoot, Feb. 2017) and a newly published paperback version of last fall’s The Runaway Tortilla (by Eric Kimmel) that published on Sept. 1st.

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For those attending the upcoming Write on the Sound Writers’ Conference in Edmonds, WA, Lisa L. Owens would love to see you at her session “Exploring Your Voice As a Children’s Writer.” The content is appropriate for writers at all levels, whether you’re already actively publishing or just starting to think about writing for the children’s market. It’s scheduled for Sunday, October 2, at 1:45 p.m.

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Laurie Ann Thompson was thrilled to receive her author copies of the Japanese version of My Dog Is the Best! She’s also looking forward to reading the English version at the Seattle Public Library’s Central Library storytime on October 1st from 11am to noon.

 

In addition, she’s excited to be joining the incredible team of authors at iNK (Inter­est­ing Non­fic­tion for Kids), which “pro­motes the use of non­fic­tion in classrooms through pro­grams that help teach­ers use real books to teach to cur­ricu­lum stan­dards in ways that excite and inspire students.” Stay tuned for more!

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Suzanne Williams and Joan Holub are going to be writing a new series together! THUNDER GIRLS (tentative title) will be their fourth co-written series. This time they’ll be delving into the world of Norse mythology and writing about tween-age gods and godesses at Asgard Academy, which is located in the top one of nine worlds under the sheltering branches of the World-Tree, Yggdrasil. Books 1 and 2 (of an initial four) will pub Spring 2018. Suzanne is especially excited about this new series as she visits Norway often. Her daughter (and now a granddaughter too!) live in Oslo.

The Norse god, Odin, rides on his eight-legged horse, Sleipner, in this painted wooden frieze, one of many depicting Norse myths on the side of Oslo’s town hall.

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And if you’re attending the Washington Library Association’s conference on October 15 at Highline College in Des Moines, WA, come hear OAV members Erik Brooks, Dori Hillestad Butler, Martha Brockenbrough, Janet Lee Carey, Clare Hodgson Meeker and Dana Sullivan talk about their new books at two “Behind the Books” sessions. Deb Lund will be moderating the elementary session and Laurie Ann Thompson will be moderating the middle and high school session.

Around the Web with OAV Authors: August 2016

You already know that you can find our team’s individual profiles right here on the OAV site. You can also find links to their websites in the right-hand sidebar of every OnlineAuthorVisits.com page. We try to make it easy for schools, libraries, and other groups to get to know us so you can select the right publishing pro(s) for your important virtual events.

So, for this Back to School edition of “Around the Web,” we thought we’d make it even easier to connect with our authors and author-illustrators by rounding up direct links to each OAVer’s primary public social media pages. Think: Facebook author pages, Twitter profiles, and writing blogs. You’re on your own for Instagram, Google+ Pinterest, Tumblr, Goodreads, YouTube, and others — but do let your fingers do the typing in those platforms’ search fields. You will get OAV-member results!

Ready? Let’s go!

Row 1, L to R: Patrick Jennings, Janet Lee Carey, Joan Holub, Dia Calhoun. Row 2: Dori Hillestad Butler, Lisa L. Owens, Trudi Trueit, Suzanne Williams, Deb Lund. Row 3: Erik Brooks, Clare Hodgson Meeker, Laurie Ann Thompson, Dana Sullivan, David Patneaude. (Missing: Dori Jones Yang.)

 

Dori Jones Yang (author): Facebook page, Twitter, blog

Dori Jones Yang

Suzanne Williams (author): Goddess Girls series Facebook page

Trudi Trueit (author): Facebook page, Twitter

Laurie Ann Thompson (author): Facebook page, Twitter, blog

Dana Sullivan (author-illustrator): Twitter, blog

David Patneaude (author): Twitter, blog

Lisa L. Owens (author): Twitter, blog

Clare Hodgson Meeker (author): Facebook page, Twitter, blog

Deb Lund (author): Facebook page, Twitter, blogs

Patrick Jennings (author): Twitter, blog

Joan Holub (author-illustrator): Facebook page, Goddess Girls series Facebook page, Twitter, blog

Janet Lee Carey (author): Facebook page, Twitter, blog 1, blog 2

Dia Calhoun (author): Twitter, blog

Dori Hillestad Butler (author): Twitter, blog

Erik Brooks (author-illustrator): Facebook page, Twitter, blog

Martha Brockenbrough (author): Facebook page, Twitter, blog

That covers the whole crew!

And, while you’re out and about taking a peek at our wonderful team’s various profiles, don’t forget to connect with OAV’s official Facebook page. We’d love to see — and hear from you — there!

 

 

Around the Web with OAV Authors: June 2016

This installment of “Around the Web” is brought to you through the soft-focus lens of #TBT: Each item in this quick roundup of random OAVer web sightings features events and information from at least five years ago!

In 2010, reviewer Elizabeth Bird raved about the super-fun chapter book Guinea Dog by Patrick Jennings.

Deb Lund discussed her writing life and the 2008 picture book Monsters on Machines during an episode of “Book Bites for Kids,” a BlogTalkRadio show.

Trudi Trueit’s funny chapter book No Girls Allowed (Dogs Okay) received high praise in this 2010 video review by a young reader.

Here’s the 2010 trailer for David Patneaude’s YA novel Thin Wood Walls, a story about a Japanese-American boy’s experiences in the aftermath of the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Enjoy this thought-provoking set of discussion questions for readers of Janet Lee Carey’s 2004 novel The Double Life of Zoe Flynn.

Lisa L. Owens enjoys talking with kids about the biographies she’s written, and about ten years ago ReadWriteThink published her six-session instructional plan for Grades 3–5 on the topic, “Writers’ Workshop: The Biographical Sketch.”

Here’s a great downloadable teacher guide to accompany Do You Know the Monkey Man? — a 2005 mystery by Dori Hillestad Butler.

And, finally, check out Erik Brooks’s 2008 “Something About the Author” bio to see his impressive list of accomplishments from that era; then take a peek at his current website to see just how much work he’s produced in the meantime.

 

Deb Lund, Author of the Month: Resolutions in the Sand

Each year, my family writes resolutions on a beach. This year, we were on Long Beach in SW Washington, a bit cooler than last year’s version on Kauai. The premise for this ritual is simple. As the tide comes in, the resolutions we carve into the sand are either carried off to become reality, or there’s no sign left of them. Either way works for us!  

It doesn’t matter if you write resolutions or not, but your goals have a better chance of being achieved if you first acknowledge them and then support them with persistence, passion, and play. Let me explain…

 

Persistence 
Have you ever been called stubborn? Good! But let’s call that quality persistence, okay? So many creative people stop when they hit the wall. When they think they’re not good enough. When they think, “I can’t!” We’ve all had our walls. If you’re a teacher or parent, you might want to share this insight the next time you see someone slumped at the bottom of their wall. Hitting the wall means you’re close to breaking through. Pick yourself up, walk away if you need to, but continue to pick away at that wall.

 

Passion 
Passion is contagious. Put yourself in the path of passionate people. Identify who can help you. When past students look me up to tell me I was their favorite teacher, I know they’re responding to my passion for helping others reach their potential. What’s your passion? Don’t hide that light. Let it ignite passion in others. Claim it and watch it spread. Add that to your persistence, and you’ll have a much better chance of checking off your list of resolutions this year.

 

 

Play 
Play sounds easy, right? This one is the most difficult for me. Creative work is play. Play is not wasted time. It’s part of the creative process. It’s where you discover your gifts, your best ideas, your best techniques. I need to remind myself continually that play is not wasted time. If I focus on completing a project without putting in time playing with it, it may be close to “perfect” but there’s no sparkle, no joy. Play is practice, pleasure, and process. It’s pure expression and exploration. (Did you see how I got a few more P’s in here?) Allow—No, require—more play time! Productivity is important, but it must be paired with play.

 

What are your goals? Write them down. List the tiniest baby steps you’ll take to achieve them, write down names of people, classes, or organizations that can help you. Contact them. Set out your supplies. Take one step now with persistence, passion, and play in mind. Your dreams need more than sand and tide to become reality. 

Happy New Year!