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.